Killing Me Slowly
by ImpulsiveWeaver
Summary: It had always been Ashido. Throughout the years, Kirishima had come to realize that. He could try to let her in, but he'd only hurt her, so the best he could do was keep her at arms length. This was originally supposed to be a short little story, but I somehow just kept writing, so now it's going to be a lengthy one. (Rated M for language but probably just T).
1. Chapter 1

Killing Me Slowly

**_A/N: I am horrible at intros, so it is my sincerest hope that no one was completely turned off to the story by the small description under the title. Anyway, hello and welcome to my new story: Killing Me Slowly. If you are familiar with my other works, you already know that I am a fan of My Hero Academia, and that my favorite character in the franchise is Eijirou Kirishima. By associative properties, that makes my favorite ship in the franchise Kirishima and Ashido (I'm also fond of Kirishima and Bakugou, but I've always leaned towards more of a bros vibe between the two). I'm rambling now, so I'm just going to let you guys read the chapter, then I'll say more at the end!_**

**_..._**

Kirishima's senses sharpened to their maximum as he ran down the crowded street, moving in the opposite direction of the panicked civilians that were struggling to escape the commotion behind them. Many of the bystanders had worried looks on their faces as they ran, giving the sturdy hero reason to hasten his pace.

He had been on patrol nearby when he had heard the explosion. It had been some distance away, and Kirishima had needed to pause for a few precious seconds to discern the direction of the chaos. He had immediately radioed for backup, but even the most capable of heroes would need time to mobilize, meaning that for now, Kirishima was on his own. Many would be scared of that reality, but the Red Riot's mind refused to dwell on such unmanly emotions.

As Kirishima rounded the next corner, the scene of the crime came into view. The commotion had not come from a disturbance in the street, but from a nearby bank. A brief glance with a practiced eye instantly told Kirishima that he was witnessing a bank robbery in progress, as the front entrance to the institution had been blasted apart, leaving a gaping hole large enough to fit a truck through. As Kirishima rushed to the entrance, a small number of civilians rushed out from the inside of the bank. Many were battered and had minor injuries, but a quick sweep told Kirishima that no one was in need of immediate medical attention.

"Are you all alright?" Kirishima asked as he arrived on the scene. "What happened?"

One well-dressed man, likely an employee of the bank, turned and spoke to Kirishima in a panicked tone.

"We're all ok, but the villains are drilling into the safe! They told us to leave or they'd kill us!"

"How many are there?" Kirishima asked, his tone calm but urgent. "Do they have any hostages?"

"No hostages, thank goodness," the man wheezed, still winded from running. "And I…I don't know how many…three, I think."

Kirishima nodded, already turning toward the gaping hole in the front of the bank.

"Alright, the police should be arriving soon. Get everyone clear from this street. I'm going in."

"W-Wait! All by yourself? You can't possibly—"

Kirishima barely heard the man's protests as he rushed into the building.

…

Inside, the interior of the bank looked to be in no better shape than the front. All the furniture had either been overturned or outright destroyed, and papers and bills lay strewn everywhere like confetti. It was like a tornado had touched down inside the bank.

As his eyes adjusted to the lower light level, Kirishima saw three forms appear at the rear of the room. The door to the safe stood before them, and thankfully for Kirishima, all of their focus was on it, meaning they had not seen him yet. Two of the villains seemed to be standing by while the third was fiddling with the door itself, no doubt searching for a way to pry it open.

"Hold it right there!" Kirishima yelled, causing all three of them to jump and turn sharply in his direction.

"Crap! I thought no heroes patrolled this area," one of the villains yelled. Kirishima saw that the one who had spoken was not very large and had a scraggly beard that grew past his shoulders, but he seemed to be the leader of the three of them.

"Whatever," a second villain replied, this one much larger than his other two counterparts. He carried a sword of equally hefty size at his side. "We'll just kill him and get out of here!"

The larger villain then charged at Kirishima, raising his sword in preparation to strike.

"Wait, you idiot! We need to stick to the plan!"

The villain obviously had no plan to stop, however, and Kirishima instinctively hardened his body and moved his arms to block as the large villain brought his sword down on him. The force of the blow resounded through his body, but Kirishima's hardening quirk prevailed, stopping the blade from cutting through him and staggering the villain as the sword clanged off his hardened arms. Sparks flew, and Kirishima hardened his arm even further as the villain recovered and swung for him again.

This time, Kirishima intercepted the blade with his hardened arm, swinging with as much momentum as he could generate. His quirk training had paid off, and as he followed through with the strike, the blade's metal shattered with a loud ring.

The villain staggered again in surprise, but Kirishima barely hesitated, driving deep into the villain's solar plexus with his other hardened arm. The villain retched and doubled over, succumbing to the combination of Kirishima's hardening and natural strength.

As the villain fell onto his side and struggled to breathe, Kirishima turned his attention to the two remaining villains. Getting a closer look, he saw that while the leader looked like a normal human, the other seemed to possess some sort of porcupine quirk, his back covered with a head of spines that protruded out and behind him. Kirishima narrowed his eyes and fell into a combat stance. He called out to the villains.

"Robbing a bank ain't manly at all! Now come quietly before someone gets hurt!"

"Dammit, forget the score!" the bearded villain barked. "Let's just kill this guy and get out of here before more heroes show up!"

At that moment, the other porcupine-like villain reached behind himself and plucked some of his spines from his back. Holding at least three, the villain wound his arm back and threw them at Kirishima with a grunt, the spines equating to roughly the size of school rulers as they arced through the air towards him.

Instinctively, Kirishima hardened himself yet again and threw his arms out in front of him in a defensive cross, causing the spines to bounce harmlessly off his carapaced skin. The immediate danger averted, Kirishima peered over the top of his defense at the two villains. He was hesitant to approach them, as he had yet to discern the quirk of the bearded one. The porcupine villain had made it easy, but who knew what sort of quirk his partner possessed. If Kirishima ran in without a plan, he could still be caught off guard.

Suddenly, the bearded villain raised his arm toward Kirishima, and the red-haired hero registered the sensation of falling. At first, he thought the villain had some sort of telekinesis quirk and had pushed him over, but that assumption was quickly proven wrong as Kirishima felt his feet slide across the ground beneath him. He was still standing upright against the floor, but his body was sliding across it with little resistance, as though he was falling, but sideways instead of downward.

The sliding suddenly stopped, and Kirishima felt his weight drive downwards again, his feet supporting him once more. He barely had time to recover however, as the porcupine villain was immediately launching another barrage of spines in his direction.

"Damn it!" Kirishima growled as he hardened his body yet again in preparation for the spines. He couldn't allow this fight to be drawn out, as he would quickly run out of stamina from overworking his quirk. His training had carried him to new heights when it came to how long he could utilize his hardening without tiring out, but Kirishima still had his limits, and if he didn't find a way to finish this, the villains would eventually wear him down.

Throwing his arms up again in preparation for the spines' impact, Kirishima suddenly found himself surprised as his view of the villains was obscured by a cloud of thick grey fluid. Confusion took over his features, but suddenly, he heard a new and more feminine voice from beside him.

"Acid Veil!"

Kirishima's heart skipped a beat at the sound of the voice, and he recognized the speaker immediately. Looking to his right, he spotted none other than his classmate and long time friend Mina Ashido standing next to him. Her arms were raised, all her concentration on producing the Acid Veil before them.

"Pinky!" Kirishima said in surprise, as the spines made contact with the incredibly strong acid and melted almost immediately.

"Hey there, horn buddy!" came the response from the girl at his side as she turned her attention from the Veil and flashed a dazzling smile over to him. "Seems like I showed up just in time!"

For a brief moment, Kirishima's mind drifted as he caught her golden gaze, but he quickly snapped back to reality and turned to face the villains once again, internally slapping himself for allowing a moment of distraction during a battle.

"Thanks for the help!" he said, bringing his hands up defensively. "We've got a porcupine-quirk and what I think is some form of telekinesis. Watch your back!"

Across from the two of them, the bearded villain snickered.

"Good assumption, boy. But not exactly."

Suddenly, the villain held his arm out again, but this time it was to a large, upturned couch that sat to Kirishima's left. As if the couch was suddenly falling sideways, it slid across the floor towards them with rapidly increasing speed. Without hesitation, Kirishima stepped between Ashido and the projectile. The couch was of a heavier variety, but Kirishima stood his ground, deflecting the furniture to his left with his hardened hands.

The couch tumbled in response and continued to fall in the same direction, crashing into the wall on the other side.

"Kirishima!" he heard Ashido call from beside him. He turned his head slightly toward her to indicate his attention, still keeping his eyes focused on the villains.

"It's a gravity quirk! He can alter the gravity of the objects in the room!"

"Got it! Let's separate! I'll take the gravity guy, and you handle the porcupine!"

He heard Ashido's acknowledgement from beside him, then his body was already in motion, charging forward to close the distance between him and the bearded villain. To his right, he could hear Ashido skating across the floor on her acid, using her natural agility to duck and weave through the barrage of spines that the other villain was flinging her way.

Suddenly, the gravity villain shot his arm towards Kirishima, and the red-haired hero stumbled in the middle of his charge, his limbs suddenly feeling like lead as his entire body struggled to adjust to the change in gravity. The villain had not changed the direction of his gravity this time, but rather, its _magnitude_, and Kirishima activated his quirk once more to recover his foundation.

Just as he found his footing, the gravity suddenly increased even further, and Kirishima almost dropped to his knees as the force bore down on him incessantly. Kirishima grunted and forced himself to continue forward, his quirk continuing to harden to support the increased load. The increased gravity slowed his pace to a walk but had yet to stop him completely.

Looking forward, Kirishima saw that the villain was straining as well, sweat forming on the man's brow and his own hand shaking as he struggled to increase the weight on the sturdy Red Riot.

"Ten Gs and you're still standing?!" the villain snarled in disbelief as Kirishima took another heavy step towards him. "You heroes don't know when to quit!"

"You're right! We don't!" suddenly came Ashido's voice from Kirishima's right. Before either of them could turn and look, the pink hero closed the distance and delivered a solid punch across the villain's chin. The bearded man's head snapped to the side, and Kirishima felt the heavy weight lift from him as soon as the villain broke eye contact. Glancing to the side, Kirishima saw that the porcupine-looking villain was unconscious, his body slumped against the floor with a black eye already forming on his face. As the bearded villain toppled over in a similar fashion, Kirishima saw Ashido making her way towards him, worry dominating her features.

"Are you ok?!" Her voice was almost frantic, and Kirishima held a hand up reassuringly as he caught his breath.

"I'm alright, Ashido. No worries!" Kirishima said reassuringly. He held his arms out to the side, showing that he had no injuries to speak of apart from some minor abrasions. He felt a pang in his chest as he spied the beginnings of tears in the pink girl's eyes as she scanned him for any injuries.

"You scared me, Kiri! I thought for sure that villain was going to crush you!"

"What, _that_ guy?" Kirishima gave a small laugh. "It's going to take more than that to take down Red Riot!"

"So it would seem…"

Both of them snapped their heads back to the bearded villain as he stumbled to his feet. His face was already beginning to swell up from where Ashido had punched him, and a moment too late, Kirishima saw the syringe appear in his hand.

Instantly, Kirishima reacted, throwing Ashido behind him as he charged at the villain as fast as he was able. Had he been just a moment quicker, he might have been able to prevent what happened next.

In a blink of an eye, the villain plunged the syringe deep into his own neck, and just as Kirishima reached out towards him, the villain threw his hand out and yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kirishima's hand was mere millimeters from his target when the entire room turned on its side. Kirishima, as well as everything else that wasn't nailed down, violently shot backward toward the entrance of the bank at a breakneck speed. This time, Kirishima was thrown into the air by the sudden jolt, and has he tumbled back out of the entrance of the bank, his instinctively tucked his chin to his chest and hardened his body once more.

His body flew across the street and struck the wall of a building, slightly winding the young hero as the concrete structure cracked against his back.

The altered gravity kept Kirishima pressed against the damaged wall for a moment longer, then normal gravity took over once more, and he tumbled roughly onto the street. Frantically, he looked up and scanned the area. The street before him as well as the wall behind him were littered with miscellaneous items and furniture that had been inside the bank just a moment ago.

"Damn," Kirishima cursed to himself. He of all people should have known that the villain would've planned some dirty move like that. He had seen the devastation that quirk enhancing drugs were capable of causing firsthand, but he had thought that they had rid the streets of them shortly after their run-in with the Shie Hassaikai. Obviously, that had not been the case, and now, that villain's already powerful quirk had been upgraded many times over, making him a much greater threat due to his newfound power.

With a start, Kirishima realized that he did not see Ashido anywhere. He hadn't seen her since the villain had injected himself with the drug.

"Ashido!" he called out, glancing about wildly. "Where are you? Are you alright?"

A voice suddenly came from inside the bank, but it was not the voice that Kirishima wanted to hear.

"You brat, I should've known that you'd survive. Kids like you are just too stupid to die, sometimes."

From out of the bank stepped the bearded villain, his hair whirling about his head, and his face contorted into a psychotic grin. One of the most common side effects of these quirk enhancing drugs was temporary mental instability in those that used them, and this villain appeared to be no exception. Kirishima narrowed his eyes angrily at the villain, who cackled maniacally back at him. His laugh slightly activating his quirk and causing the debris near him to be pushed away.

"Now then," the villain said, focusing entirely on Kirishima. "Where were we? Ten Gs, I believe? Why don't we see how well you do at fifteen!"

Kirishima's eyes opened widely as the villain slowly raised his arm towards him, but his look turned to that of surprise as he saw a tuft of pink hair appear behind the villain. Quickly, Kirishima's mind raced to formulate a plan. All he had to do was distract the villain long enough for Ashido to get the drop on him. If Kirishima could keep the villain's eyes on him, then Ashido would be in no danger, as it seemed like the villain had to maintain eye contact with whatever he used his quirk on.

"Come on then!" Kirishima taunted, hardening his body even further. Before the villain's eyes, Kirishima's entire body took on a jagged and rocky look as he pushed his hardening to the maximum. It had been a while since Kirishima had used his 'Unbreakable' form against a villain, but he had come a long way from when he had first invented the form. In addition to raising his maximum hardness from its previous limit, he could also hold the form for about two to three minutes instead of his previous record of thirty to forty seconds.

With a booming clash, Kirishima pounded his fists together, and sparks flew as his intensely hardened hands ground against each other. With no more hesitation, Kirishima charged once again towards his opponent.

The bearded villain smirked and raised his hand, and Kirishima braced himself as the power of the villain's quirk struck him at full force. If what the villain said was true, then Kirishima's body now weighed at fifteen times greater than it did normally, and Kirishima abruptly stopped his advance as his feet broke through the concrete beneath him due to the weight. Kirishima growled as he struggled to remain upright, and he looked up just in time to see Ashido appear behind the villain, her arms raised in preparation to strike.

Without turning his head away from Kirishima, the villain raised his other arm behind him, his quirk suspending Ashido in midair before she could deliver the blow. Kirishima watched in horror as she struggled and kicked, but her entire body was floating lazily above the ground, and she had no footholds to reach out to.

"Thought I forgot about you?" the villain snarled, turning away from Kirishima to regard Ashido with a malevolent sneer. "Why don't you take a ride while I deal with your partner here?"

With a small shriek, Ashido shot up into the sky, her whole body falling in reverse towards the space above.

"Ashido!" Kirishima cried out, forcing one of his feet forward through the concrete that struggled to support his weight.

"Your friend is taking a trip, hero!" the villain jeered as he turned his head back to Kirishima. "The question is, do I let her keep going until she breaks through the atmosphere? Or do I let her come back down so she can end up as a smear on the pavement?"

"You bastard!" Kirishima roared, forcing himself to take another step towards the villain.

"And after all that, you're still walking?!" the villain asked in awe, his vile grin faltering for a brief moment before returning to his face. "I tell you what, rock boy. Since you've managed to impress me today, I'll let you both die together! It's the least I can do!"

And with that, Kirishima's world suddenly turned upside down as he was thrown into the sky. Wind streaked past him as he tumbled upward, gaining speed at an alarming rate thanks to the villain's quirk. Spreading his arms and legs out wide, Kirishima was able to right himself as he fell, finally stopping his rotation so that he pointed toward the open sky, which was technically downward for him. Ignoring the initial shock that he was falling into the open air of 'above', Kirishima searched wildly about for Ashido.

For a few frantic moments, he couldn't see anything against the cloudless sea of blue, but eyes finally discerned a small speck growing against the background. As the speck began to grow larger, Kirishima saw Mina's form begin to take shape, her pink skin in stark contrast to the light blue background. Setting his jaw in determination, Kirishima drew his limbs inward and angled himself towards her, increasing his speed as her tumbling form drew closer and closer.

…

Ashido screwed her eyes shut as the wind howled past her ears. Falling in the wrong direction had left her disoriented, and she had closed her eyes in an attempt to rebalance her equilibrium. Suddenly, she felt something crash into her from below, or above, depending on her orientation. Opening her eyes curiously, Ashido's field of vision was suddenly filled with a familiar red color.

"Kirishima!" she cried out in a mixture of surprise and relief, as her classmate grabbed onto her wrists tightly. "What happened!?"

"The gravity guy threw me too!" Kirishima yelled over the howling wind. "He's going to try and crush us into the pavement once we get high enough!"

Looking back to the surface, Ashido's stomach dropped as she realized that they were still falling upward. The surface of the earth began to fall away, and the features of the ground began to diminish along with her hope.

"W-what do we do?" she called; her voice laden with fear. Ashido was never one to be afraid of heights, but having a quirk that didn't help you soften your landing did not fill her with optimism about their current situation.

"The drug he injected himself with is going to wear off soon!" Kirishima called back. "When it does, we will start to fall back to Earth! I have a plan to slow us down, but I'm going to need your help if we're going to pull this off!"

Ashido nodded her head wildly; as of this moment, there was very little she could do from panicking as the ground continued to fall away from them. She locked eyes with Kirishima and found herself ever-so-slightly comforted at his determined smile.

…

On the ground, the bearded villain watched the two heroes continue to rise. He knew that even if he let them fall now, their chances of survival were next zero, but the high he felt from the drug had brought out his sadistic side, and he wanted to drag their suffering on a little bit longer. No doubt the two of them had accepted by now that there was no way they could survive the fall. Even if he reduced their gravity by half, they were so high up that their speed would be—

The villain's thought abruptly died as a sharp pain erupted from his back. His body began spasming violently as the pain continued, and after a few moments, his vision went black and he passed out.

Behind him, a figure retracted her headphone jacks from his unconscious form, cocking her head slightly in confusion. This new figure was a hero as well, donned in a black pair of pants with boots to match. The pink tank top that she wore was slightly ripped, but the hero wore a black leather jacket over it.

"What the heck was he doing?" Jirou asked to herself, frowning at the villain's unorthodox actions. "Instead of escaping, he was looking up at the birds or something…"

Turning her questioning gaze upward, Jirou saw nothing of interest in the sky that could have drawn the villain's gaze. High above, she squinted to make out what appeared to be a large bird with two massive wings, but as she looked closer, she saw that there was no bird, and that its 'wings' were actually two human beings.

"Oh," Jirou said to herself, still slightly confused about what had just transpired. Looking back down at the villain's unconscious form, she felt her stomach drop as the full realization of what had happened hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh _shit_."

…

"We're slowing down!" Ashido yelled over the wind. Kirishima knew she was correct, as he could feel the two of them starting to lose their momentum. Slowly, the wind began to drop in intensity, and Kirishima could feel his equilibrium shift as Earth's gravity reigned supreme once more; slowing their ascent into the sky. The wind then died, and the two of them stopped completely, floating in the open air for the briefest of moments. Kirishima caught Ashido's eye as they drifted, nodding once to reassure her. He only hoped that he was hiding his fear as well as he thought he was.

Then, the wind changed direction, and for the first time in a few minutes, Kirishima felt himself falling back to Earth. The intense breeze grew to a howl once more, and Kirishima quickly reminded himself of what needed to be done if they wanted to make it through this.

"Ashido!" he called, drawing her nervous gaze away from the ground. "I need you to climb onto my back! Get ready to shoot some acid!"

Ashido gave a brief frown of confusion, but did as he instructed, pulling herself onto his back and maneuvering so that her arms were wrapped around his neck and her legs about his waist. Had this been in any other situation, Kirishima would have blushed at the proximity, but the thought of imminent death bulldozed over his embarrassment, and Kirishima shifted himself slightly so that he could get a closer look at the buildings below. Doing his best to ignore how quickly they were approaching, Kirishima spotted one that matched what he was looking for: a tall skyscraper that stood much higher than the ones around it. Satisfied with his choice, he shifted himself again so that the two of them faced the building.

"Now, Ashido! Shoot it behind us! As much as you can!"

Kirishima did not need to see her to know that she was obliging as she shifted her legs to shoot acid behind them with her feet. Her arms still anchored her to him, and if the two of them were to survive the next minute, they would need to stay that way. The acid was working however, as the excretion from Ashido's feet was enough to propel them horizontally towards the building that Kirishima had selected. Just a little bit more…

"Stop!" Kirishima called, and Ashido did, causing them to drift as the building drew closer and closer. Kirishima called out once more.

"Now, fire it directly in front of us! We need to slow down!"

"But if I do that! You'll get hit with the spray!" Ashido replied, wrapping her legs back around Kirishima's midsection.

"Just make it as weak as you can! I can take it with my hardening!" he called back. Ashido seemed to hesitate for a moment, then placed her hands out and began secreting acid directly in front of them.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" she called apprehensively.

As she had warned, much of the corrosive liquid blew back into Kirishima's exposed chest and face, and he hardened both in response. Thankfully, the acid did not burn when it made contact with his skin, and he only perceived a very light tingling as it slid past him. Beneath them but slightly at an angle, the building drew even closer, and Kirishima suspected that they only had a few more seconds before impact.

"Ok! Now brace yourself!" Kirishima called back. "This is going to be rough!"

Ashido said nothing, but her arms returned to his neck, and he could feel them squeeze even tighter along with her legs. She buried her face into the back of his neck in preparation, and Kirishima sent a silent prayer to whoever might be listening that they made it through this.

Kirishima took a deep breath, then hardened once more into his unbreakable form. Grunting in exertion as he focused specifically on his hands and his feet. Pushing himself even further, Kirishima tore through his boots with his sharpened feet, his toes shredding through the cloth and rubber. At the same time, Kirishima's brow furrowed in determination as he focused on maintaining his hardening in the front while keeping his skin relatively soft on his back. With Ashido still clinging to him like a lifeline, he had to make sure that he didn't accidentally cut her with the jagged edges that came with his hardening. Checking to make sure that he was ready, Kirishima took one more deep breath and counted down slowly as they surged toward the skyscraper.

_Three…_

Kirishima double checked their alignment. Their trajectory was now strictly vertical, as Ashido had halted any horizontal momentum that they had. Kirishima grimly noted that if his judgement was off by just a bit, the two of them would end up as a puddle on the roof of the building. If they did this right, then they would be falling straight down…directly parallel to the side of the skyscraper when they reached its height. He silently wished he had Sero's expertise to help him, as his black-haired classmate had much more experience with flying.

_Two…_

Kirishima double checked his own hardened state as well as Ashido's position on his back. He couldn't guarantee that she'd be perfectly shielded by him…realistically, he couldn't even guarantee that this plan of his would _work_. But it was the best chance they had. It was now or never. Life or death. It was crunch time.

_One…_

The roof of the skyscraper shot past them by a few centimeters.

With a yell, Kirishima thrust his hands and feet into the concrete on the side of the building. His hardened limbs dug into the material, and Kirishima's scowl deepened as chunks of concrete and metal flew in every direction, his hands carving through the surface in an attempt to slow their descent. Both sets of limbs began to heat up as they continued to grind through the wall, but Kirishima only drove them even further into the building in response. He could still feel Ashido gripping him tightly.

"Hold on, Ashido!" Kirishima yelled, pouring all of his will into slowing them down as rock and metal bounced off his face. His heart pounded against his ribcage, and to his utmost relief, Kirishima realized that they were slowing down. However, they were still moving at a very high speed, and Kirishima was not sure how much building they had left. He didn't dare look down.

Kirishima lost track of time as he clawed through the side of the building fervently. How long had they been falling for? Seconds? Minutes? Hours, even? Abruptly, something caught from within the wall, and Kirishima felt his shoulders almost rip from their sockets as they ground to a stop on the side of the building. The young hero paused to make sure that Ashido was still holding onto his back, then turned and dared a glance downward to see how close they were to the Earth below.

To his combined relief and horror, Kirishima saw that they had stopped a mere ten meters from the pavement. They had been ten meters away from ending up in the obituaries, but on the bright side, Kirishima supposed that he only had ten meters to climb down now as well.

"Hey Ashido!" Kirishima called back to her, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice. "You can look now. We've stopped!"

He felt Ashido shake her head against his neck in a childish resistance.

"I am _not_ opening my eyes until we are on solid ground!" she shouted a bit louder than she needed to.

Kirishima gave a brief nod, then slowly began the climb downward, ignoring the faces of bewildered civilians looking up at them from below.

…

Moving down the wall proved to be a relatively easy feat compared to everything else Kirishima had done today, and Ashido had finally opened her eyes once Kirishima had rooted himself to the Earth's surface once more. In an unexpected twist, however, Ashido appeared to be unable to relinquish her death grip on his back. It was as though her muscles had locked in place from the strain, and Kirishima had chuckled at her child-like antics as she unsuccessfully tried to break her grip. Seeing as they were temporarily incapable of separating, Kirishima chose to carry her back to the scene of the crime without complaint. The walk itself turned out to be a greater distance than Kirishima had initially estimated, the building being a good few blocks from the bank, and Kirishima shuddered as he remembered that the vertical distance they had traveled was likely much farther than their horizontal displacement.

When they returned to the bank, the police had already arrived and taken control of the situation. In addition to standard officers, fire control teams and medical personnel had arrived as well. Surveying the scene as Kirishima arrived with Ashido, he noted that the three villains they had fought were all sitting nearby, their hands cuffed and their quirks suppressed. As Kirishima walked past them, the sword and porcupine villains eyed him and Ashido with the standard contempt reserved by villains for their captors, but the gravity villain stared at the two of them as though they were ghosts.

"Wha-?! How-?" he sputtered.

Kirishima flashed him a toothy grin and walked over to the ambulance nearby, as both him and Ashido had not come out of the conflict unscathed. Ashido possessed a number of lacerations on her arms and legs from the building, and Kirishima had done a number on his hands and feet as well. His hardening had held on long enough for the two of them to survive the ordeal, but the EMTs warned Kirishima against excessive use of his quirk for the next day or so, as he had likely strained it when he had slid down the building. This all came after the lengthy process of removing Ashido from Kirishima's back, which proved to be rather difficult, as Ashido's unconscious grip strength was rather strong. At first, Kirishima had been worried about her, but the EMTs had insisted that it was a temporary response to the high stress conditions. She would be fine as soon as her limbs were given a chance to stretch. Their diagnosis proved correct, and Ashido had no more issues once she moved around for a bit.

At first, Ashido had all but collapsed against him, her voice shaking with fear as she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Oh my gosh, Kirishima! I was so scared back there! When that villain threw me into the sky, I thought I was done for!"

Kirishima flushed at her close proximity. Nervously, he swallowed the lump in his throat as best he could and patted her on the back as she continued.

"But then suddenly you were there, and I still don't know how you did it, but you saved us!"

Ashido's cries suddenly turned into giddy praise as she suddenly jumped back and pointed at him with her eyes wide in awe. Her mood seemed to immediately revert back to its usual energetic positivity.

"You clawed your way down that building like it was nothing! I've never seen anything like that before! How did you even think of something like that?!"

Kirishima grinned at her as she struck a victory pose towards him, and he shrugged his shoulders and blushed at her praise.

"I'm not really sure, Ashido. It just sort of came to me, I guess. I'm just glad we both made it down in one piece!"

Suddenly, Kirishima heard his name being called, and when he turned to the source, he saw another one of his classmates, Kyoka Jirou, sprinting towards them, gasping for breath as she waved frantically towards the two of them.

"You—You guys!" Jirou called, stopping to catch her breath as she reached them. "I saw you guys falling from the sky, and I ran to where I thought you would land, but when I got there, there was nothing except this big gouge running down the side of the skyscraper nearby! What the hell happened to you guys?!"

…

"And then, the guy said, 'Why don't you take a ride while I deal with your partner here?' And next thing I knew, I was flying!"

Kirishima chuckled as Ashido retold the tale to the rest of their classmates. Filing their reports had taken quite a while, and the two of them had not arrived back at the dorms until late and to their surprise, the entire class was waiting for them in the common room. Apparently, news of Kirishima's little stunt had already made front page news, and images of the scarred building appeared on almost every major news outlet, making Red Riot the hottest hero-in-training around. Everyone had begged to hear the whole story, and Ashido had been more than happy to give a first-person recount of the events that occurred that day.

And now, everyone was gathered in the common area, Ashido telling the story of their encounter to the rest of their class. Even Bakugou was present, his curiosity for details apparently overcoming his anti-social tendencies.

"Dude, that's insane!" Sato exclaimed, looking wildly from Kirishima to Ashido with bulging eyeballs. Ashido grinned back at him before continuing enthusiastically.

"So then, I was falling for what felt like hours…"

Her voice fell into the background as Mineta nudged Kirishima with his elbow. Looking over at his grape-haired classmate, Kirishima saw the shorter boy's face contort into a sleazy grin, a common sign that he was about to say something of the risqué nature.

"After pulling a stunt like that, there's no doubt that girls are gonna swoon when they see you," Mineta said, his voice holding a slightly envious edge.

"Yeah dude!" chimed in Kaminari, leaning over Mineta from his other side to add input. "There's no way you can walk around town now without somebody wanting your autograph. But more importantly, you'll have your pick of any girl you want!"

Kirishima rolled his eyes. He had always been put off by how focused on sex the two of them were, mostly Mineta. To Kirishima, it seemed rather unmanly to constantly be thinking of women that way, and he had always steered the conversation elsewhere when Mineta inevitably brought such a subject up. Other times, he had outright voiced his disdain for such topics, but his grape-haired classmate was undeterred every time.

"Come on guys, we've been over this," Kirishima sighed. "I've got a long way to go as a hero before I can even _think_ about getting into a relationship. I can't afford to give a potential partner the time they deserve if I'm always out doing hero work."

"Geez, were you raised in a monastery or something?" Mineta countered, rolling his eyes in kind. "You act like a serious relationship is the only path you can go down with girls. You do know that there are more…_surface_ level interactions you can pursue, right?"

Kirishima shook his head. "I told you, Mineta. It's not worth going after if it's not serious. It's completely unmanly to go after a girl just to get into her pants. Plus it's just creepy."

"Are you crazy?!" Mineta responded in disbelief. "Women _love_ the whole 'friends with benefits' dynamic! It brings out their naughty side!"

"Uh, easy there, tiger," Kaminari interjected. "I think you've been spending a little too much time on those 'research' websites of yours."

Mineta rolled his eyes and mumbled something about 'the female psyche' before getting up from the couch and departing from the group, and Kaminari addressed Kirishima again. "While Mineta's statement may be a little farfetched, he's not entirely wrong, dude. A lot of girls are actually comfortable with a strictly physical relationship, and it's not about being shallow. It's actually somewhat popular because while many of people don't have time to devote themselves to a romantic partnership, they still have needs. So, a casual relationship like that is a logical compromise. Hell, it doesn't even have to be a long relationship. One-night stands are pretty popular too."

Kaminari's sudden insight caught Kirishima slightly off guard, as there were few times when the yellow-haired boy was as insightful as he was being now. When it came to academics, Kaminari often struggled to understand the material, but in instances such as this, the electric-quirk user seemed to be rather knowledgeable.

With that in mind, Kirishima mulled over Kaminari's words. In truth, he had never thought of relationships going that way before. To him, getting into relationships had always been a very black or white affair: you either went all in or you didn't at all. But now, with what Kaminari had said, Kirishima understood why such surface-level relations were popular. If both parties were comfortable with it, then he supposed there was no harm in keeping a relationship strictly sexual, but at the same time, Kirishima doubted that he would still go for something like that. To him, getting into a relationship without romance was just not what he wanted out of life, and despite him being a young man with raging hormones, he was willing to wait for the right someone to arrive. For a fraction of a second, his eyes unconsciously flitted over to Ashido, who was still telling the story to the rest of the class.

"Besides," Kaminari continued with a smirk. "I think maybe something like that would be better for you than stealing glances at a certain member of our class."

_Damn, he'd noticed._

Kirishima flushed with embarrassment. "Wha—no! I mean—I don't—"

Kaminari smirked once more and shook his head. "Relax, dude. It's only obvious to a few of us. Right, Sero?"

From Kirishima's other side on the couch, Hanta Sero had been listening the entire time, and he gave a smile and nodded. Kirishima's eyes went wide. "You too?!"

"Yep! But don't worry , it's really only me, Kaminari, and Bakugou that know about your little crush. We won't tell anybody. Right, Bakugou?"

The firey-tempered blonde sneered from behind Kirishima. He had been standing there for all of the conversation as well but had not said a word.

"This whole conversation is pathetic," Bakugou spat. "You idiots leave me out of your stupid drama."

With that, Bakugou went away as well, walking back to the elevator to return to his dorm room.

"See? His lips are sealed," Sero said. "But honestly, I don't see what the big deal is, Kirishima. If you like the girl, just ask her out sometime."

Kaminari leaned back and crossed his arms, talking past Kirishima directly to Sero. "I'd like to see that too, but even if we got 'chivalry incarnate' here to reach out, there's still one more obstacle standing in the way."

Sero's brow furrowed in confusion, and before Kaminari could explain further, Ashido's giddy voice suddenly grew in volume, abruptly ending the conversation.

"Oh my gosh! I forgot to text Takeo! He's probably worried sick!"

Ashido bolted away as well. Catching the elevator just as the doors were closing, she ignored Bakugou's outburst of anger with a practice that was shared among the members of their class.

"Takeo?" Midoriya asked, tilting his head questioningly looking after Ashido as the elevator doors closed together. "Is that someone from her hero internship?"

Across from him, Jirou sighed, as did a few of the other girls present.

"No, he's Ashido's boyfriend."

"WHAAAAT?!"

Of all the members of the class to react to the news, Mineta's was likely the loudest.

"Give me his phone number at once! I must learn all the juicy details of how Ashido is as a lover! And to think, all this knowledge has gone without my not—"

Mineta's rant was cut short as Jirou stabbed him with her earphone jack, silencing his perverted outburst as quickly as it had begun. She then sighed and sat back against the couch she was in. The rest of the class waited patiently to hear what she had to say.

"His full name is Takeo Hayashi. They've been dating for a couple of months now, and we initially kept it a secret at Ashido's request. She didn't want anyone to feel put off by it, but it seems like she isn't really worried about that anymore."

Next to her, Yaoyorozu spoke up as well, her posture stiff and composed in contrast to Jirou's slouched and reserved position.

"Hayashi is a young hero who graduated just this year from Ketsubutsu. The two of them met during a joint operation by their respective hero agencies."

"A graduate from Ketsubutsu, and just recently at that," Midoriya mumbled, placing his hand on his chin contemplatively. "That makes him exactly one year ahead of us since we are in our third year, and if he's only just made his debut, then we won't be able to find him in the hero registry until he's begun to make a name for himself. But how long that takes is entirely dependent on him and how well…"

"_Anyway_!" Hagakure said, her outline angrily interrupting Midoriya's mumbling. "Mina had introduced us girls to him already, so it's only you boys that were out of the loop until now."

"If I'm being honest, I would say ignorance has been bliss in this case," Asui said bluntly. "We all don't care very much for him, but Mina seems to see a different side of him that we don't."

"Well, he's not _that_ bad," Uraraka said, folding her hands in front of her. Kirishima detected a twinge of hopefulness in her voice, as though she was trying to make herself believe her own words as well. "He can just be a bit loud and intrusive sometimes…"

"The guy is an asshole, Ochaco," Jirou said brusquely. "I've caught him staring at you before, and trust me, intrusive is putting it mildly."

Uraraka winced and backed down, her body language silently admitting that Jirou was correct.

"Man, people like that just make my skin crawl!" Sato said, standing up and curling his fists.

"I am confused," Todoroki said. His face betrayed little emotion, but everyone had become used to it by now. "If this person is really as bad as you make him out to be, then why does Ashido choose to be with him?"

Yaoyorozu sighed and tilted her head down slightly. "He acts differently around her. When she's around, he puts on a show of being kind and courteous, but the charade drops the minute she's not looking. It's rather disgusting to look at."

"But if that's the case, then shouldn't we tell her?" Ojiro asked, his tail flitting contemplatively as he stood leaning against the couch. "I mean, isn't that what friends do?"

"It's not quite that simple," Hagakure said, the outline of her shoulders slumping. "While we all agree that Hayashi is not a nice person, we don't have any actual proof. And more importantly, while his mannerisms _are_ crude and gross, he's not given us any sign that he's dangerous. A jerk to be sure, but not someone we need to be wary of."

"Hagakure is indeed correct!" Iida boldly stated. His rigid enthusiasm had not diminished since their freshmen year at U.A., making him still the foremost enforcer of the codes and rules of the class. "If we were to voice our disdain for this man to Ashido, we might accidentally force her into a position where she feels the need to choose between us and him! This would be counter-productive, as she may resent us for making such accusations!"

The meaning behind his words settled on everyone's shoulders, and when no one argued Iida's point, Tokoyami finally spoke from his leaning position against the walls.

"So, our best course of action is to do nothing and hope for the best…" the keeper of Dark Shadow mused, closing his eyes as he did so. "As an aspiring hero, I must admit that I find that aggravating."

Tokoyami's voice had maintained its monotonous edge as usual, but everyone knew that he also felt concern for Ashido.

"The really aggravating part is that she hasn't seen through his dumb charade yet," Jirou groaned, throwing her head back into the couch. "And even when Hayashi is pretending for her, he still comes off as a jerk, only just slightly less of one. One would think that she'd have higher standards, or that someone _else_ would have asked her out before that sleaze ball."

Jirou's gaze discretely fell on Kirishima, and the red-haired boy's face blanched in response.

"Yeah!" Kaminari said jokingly as he threw his arm over Kirishima's shoulder and locked eyes with Jirou. "With so many fine suitors in her own _class_, one would think that she would settle for someone a bit better on the totem pole, huh?"

Jirou frowned at him, and Kirishima almost missed the wink that the yellow-haired boy shot back to her. To Kirishima's relief, none of the other members of their class seemed to pick up on their subtle hints, and not wanting to delve further into this dangerous territory, Kirishima sighed and stood up from under Kaminari's arm.

"I hate to see it too, guys, but let's all have a little faith in Ashido. I'm sure that if this Hayashi guy is really that bad, that she'll see through him soon enough. For now, let's all just leave her to her business and be there for her if things turn for the worse. I'm sure it will all work out."

The members of the class all nodded or voiced their agreement, although Kirishima noticed that a few did so begrudgingly.

"In any case, I'm glad you all stayed up to see us get back, but it's getting pretty late, and we should probably get some sleep since we still have class tomorrow."

"Indeed!" Iida shouted, immediately taking charge. "Everyone retire to your rooms! We must get to bed as soon as possible if we are to take full advantage of our learning opportunities tomorrow!"

The class rep's voice stirred action into the rest of its members, and everyone congratulated Kirishima once more before bidding each other goodnight and making their way to their rooms.

Once Kirishima had showered and finally returned to the privacy of this own room, he let his shoulders slump dejectedly. Despite his best efforts, Kirishima had been unable to keep his attraction to Ashido a secret from three of his friends, and if that exchange between Jirou and Kaminari just now meant what he thought it did, then Jirou and likely Yaoyorozu knew about it as well. How much longer did he have until everyone found out? How long until someone told _Ashido_ about it?

Flopping onto his bed wearily, Kirishima winced and remembered that his body still hadn't entirely healed yet. His fingers and toes ached from the abuse he'd put them through, and his whole body was still sore as an aftereffect from the gravity villain's quirk. Taking a bit more care, Kirishima turned over so that he laid flat on his back and thought about the conversation he'd had with Kaminari and Sero.

He had told them that he was not seeking a relationship in order to focus on his hero training, and while that was partly true, that was not the main reason for Kirishima's abstinence. No, Kirishima kept his distance from relationships due to his deep-seated fear of inadequacy. Ever since starting at U.A., Kirishima had felt as though there was a gap between him and his classmates, his quirk paling in comparison to the likes of Iida or Yaoyorozu and being downright crushed by quirks like Bakugou's or Todoroki's. Determined not to fall behind, Kirishima had worked hard in an attempt to close that gap, but no matter how much progress he'd made, he couldn't help but feel inferior to the rest of his class, which he believed stemmed from him not working hard enough to catch up to the others, and that in turn had lowered his self-esteem in other areas too; the most noticeable at the moment being his attitude towards women. In Kirishima's mind, he felt he did not deserve to find a girlfriend when he still lacked so far behind his classmates. How could he market himself to the opposite sex when he knowingly wasn't giving his best in other aspects of his life? How could he even call himself a man when he didn't give his all to what he was trying to be?

His self-esteem had only worsened when he realized that he had a crush on Ashido. How could he, who had frozen in fear when someone had needed his help, ever hope to deserve someone as heroic and amazing as she was? As much as Kirishima tried to ignore his feelings, his negligence only seemed to intensify them, making him subconsciously glance in her direction during class or smile every time he saw her. It was driving him crazy, and now that other people had noticed, Kirishima dreaded what would happen if someone told Ashido the truth. What would she think? No doubt she'd try to let him down easy, but in her mind she'd likely be amused at the thought of them together. Her, with her flashy quirk and amazing personality and bottomless energy, wouldn't even have to think twice about a guy like Kirishima. Especially when there were so many others much more worthy of her affection.

In the end, Kirishima decided that it was all for the best. Ashido deserved to have someone capable at her side, and Kirishima just couldn't deliver. She would be much better off with someone else, and as long as she was happy, then he was happy. That's all that matters.

If only he could truly convince himself of that.

Kirishima sighed and pushed those thoughts from his mind, remembering that if he didn't sleep soon, then he would probably doze off tomorrow in class. Turning onto his side and sliding under the covers, Kirishima closed his eyes and drifted off, hoping to find some sort of peace in his sleep.

_**A/N: Ok, so first thing I have to say is that I kind of broke one of my personal guidelines when I started writing this story. That specific guideline concerns the inclusion of an OC in the story, as I typically tend to avoid OCs in my writing. I love them in fics that I read, but I avoid them like the plague in my own writing. However, for this story, I had to make one. If you do not like OCs, I apologize, but I felt it was necessary for the story. That being said, his role isn't GINORMOUS, so it might be enough for you to stomach if you're opposed to them haha. Until next time!**_

_**-ImpulsiveWeaver**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**A/N: Chapter 2 is coming in hot! Enjoy and remember that I own nothing!**_

"This is going to be great, Kirishima! I can't wait for you to meet Takeo! I know you two are going to get along perfectly!"

Kirishima smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Currently, both he and Ashido were walking down the street together, dressed in their casual civilian clothing. A few days had passed since their encounter at the bank, and Ashido had excitedly told Kirishima that her boyfriend had asked to meet him and give his personal thanks for saving her. At first, Kirishima had been hesitant, as from what the rest of the girls had told him, this Hayashi fellow wasn't really someone he would like to meet, but Ashido had persisted, and Kirishima had been powerless to resist Ashido's influence when she gave him puppy dog eyes. Cursing his weakness, Kirishima had finally relented and agreed to a meet up. After finally convincing him, Ashido had set it up so that the two of them would meet at a local restaurant, and now she eagerly led the way, Kirishima following behind.

"I'm glad you're excited Ashido, but you really don't have to go through all of this trouble just to have us meet each other. I'm sure we all could've met up at a hero gathering or something."

"It's no problem!" Ashido beamed. "Besides, I've been wanting you to meet him too! He's never met anyone else from out class except for the girls, so you two can talk about guy stuff! Plus, I've already told him so much about you!"

"Really?" Kirishima said with a tone of embarrassment. "Oh man, and I really don't know very much about him, do I?"

"You two actually have a lot in common! Just like you, he takes pride in being manly, and he always gives his best in everything he does!"

Kirishima's face lifted into a genuine grin at her words, a small flame of hope igniting in his chest. The way Ashido described Hayashi was nothing like the girls had the other night. From the way she made him sound, Kirishima thought that this guy might be pretty cool.

"Well in that case, let's do this! Sounds like this is the kind of guy that I'd like to meet!" Kirishima said with vigor.

"That's the spirit!" Ashido said. "Plus, his quirk is way cool!"

"_Whose_ quirk is way cool?"

Suddenly, Kirishima felt himself slipping as his feet began to lose traction on the ground beneath him. Caught completely off guard, Kirishima toppled, his gaze catching a brief glimpse of what appeared to be… ice?

Confused, Kirishima threw his hands out to catch himself before he fell onto the icy pavement, but the landing was surprisingly soft. In confusion, Kirishima saw that the ground he had fallen on was no longer icy but was made of bubble wrap. The material popped wildly as Kirishima landed, and he frowned in confusion before standing up. Standing directly across from him was a new face, grinning impishly. The figure was a man, and he sported a head of dark orange hair that fell down to his shoulders. His complexion was that of a deep tan, contrasting quite well with his hair. Kirishima raised his eyebrow as the man continued to smile at him. Had he done this?

"Takeo!" Ashido cried with glee, running forward and throwing her arms around the man's neck. The man grinned and returned the hug with one arm, slinging it over Ashido's shoulders. Kirishima felt a slight pang at the embrace but pushed it down as immediately as it had come up.

"Oh! So, you're Hayashi, then!" Kirishima said, taking a step forward across the bubble wrap ground and offering his hand courteously. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"I could say the same," Hayashi said, offering his other hand out in a fist bump instead of a handshake. "You're… Kirumasha or something, right?"

"Takeo!" Ashido pouted, lightly slapping her boyfriend's chest. "I've told you his name at least a thousand times by now!"

"Hey, no worries Ashido! Names are tough sometimes!" Kirishima smiled and returned the fist bump good naturedly. "I'm Eijirou Kirishima, a classmate of Ashido's! So… this whole ground turning icy and then to bubble wrap was you then?"

"You know it!" Hayashi said. "I've got quite a few party tricks up my sleeve."

"Takeo's quirk is Transmutation," Ashido exclaimed from his side. "He can change the composition of any material into whatever he so chooses! Perfect for clearing obstacles or saving civilians!"

"Wow!" Kirishima exclaimed, looking at Hayashi with awe. "That's incredible! A quirk like that is really versatile!"

"You have no idea," Hayashi said. He lifted his free arm in front of him, and before Kirishima's eyes, a chunk of brightly colored metal materialized into the palm of his hand.

"Whoa. Is that… gold?"

"Yep!" Hayashi said. "My Transmutation is strong enough that I can even affect the air around me. Works pretty well for creating cover when I'm working with the police."

With a small gesture, the gold disappeared as Hayashi turned it back into air.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, what do you guys say we get some food? I'm starving!"

"Sounds good!" Ashido said, and Kirishima nodded his head with a grin and fell in behind the two of them as Hayashi led the way into the diner.

…

"So, wait, you work with Fatgum, right? Just how much does that guy eat?"

Kirishima laughed at the question and shook his head. The three of them were sitting at a booth inside the restaurant, with Ashido and Hayashi on one side and Kirishima on the other.

"More than you'd think! But it's always so he can pump up his quirk. But realistically, he probably eats enough for five people at minimum."

"Wow!" Ashido said. "I can't even imagine how much time that takes up! Finding time to eat that much must be exhausting!"

"On top of that, what about the money?" Hayashi exclaimed. "Living like that certainly ain't cheap."

"Actually. Fatgum gets to eat for free at a lot of places," Kirishima said. "Due to the nature of his quirk, a lot of people pay attention to where he eats, so restaurant owners always want him to come by. It's a win-win situation. Fatgum gets plenty of discounts, and the restaurant owners get a bunch of publicity as a result!"

"Huh, so Fatgum really ain't no dummy then…" Hayashi mused. "From what I had seen, he really didn't appear to have quite a lot going on under the hood…"

Kirishima frowned slightly at Hayashi's jibe at Fatgum, but immediately covered it with a smile. "Yeah, he actually plans out most of our operations! He may not look the type, but he's a pretty good strategist."

"See, Takeo?" Ashido said, nudging her boyfriend's arm with a grin. "That's why you never judge a book by its cover."

Kirishima smiled at Ashido, thankful for her help. Out of the corner of his eye, Kirishima thought he saw Hayashi glare at her for a brief moment, but when he looked again, it was gone.

"Anyway," Ashido said, bouncing up from her seat in the booth. "I need to go 'powder my nose'. I'll let you two have some guy talk while I'm out!"

"Sounds good."

Ashido beamed at the two of them and went away, and Kirishima leaned back in his seat and propped his arm back against the booth in a relaxed manner.

"So, Hayashi. Ashido tells me that the two of you met on a joint mission by your two agencies. I gotta admit, I've had some pretty wild adventures on joint missions before, so I bet it's quite a story!"

"Yeah, I've been on a few, they can get crazy. But much more importantly…"

Hayashi's face suddenly became very intense, and he fixed Kirishima with a glare that startled the red-haired boy.

"…are you trying to sleep with Mina?"

His sudden forcefulness took Kirishima by surprise, and the sturdy hero felt himself falter as Hayashi's gaze bored into him.

"Uh. I'm sorry, what?" Kirishima asked, glancing around to make sure that Ashido was out of earshot.

"Don't worry, she's not going to hear us," Hayashi said. "And we're just having 'guy talk', right?"

"Uhhh, sure…" Kirishima replied, still not entirely sure of what Hayashi wanted him to say.

"Look… Kirishima, right? Mina talks about your class a lot, but out of everyone else, _you_ are the one she seems to mention the most. And after your little stunt with the skyscraper, you're going to be on the front of everyone's mind for a while. That being said, if you're trying to move in…"

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy, man!" Kirishima said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. "Ashido is a really good friend of mine, of everyone in our class! I'd never do something so unmanly as try to break her up with anyone just so I could move in. We're just friends!"

Hayashi gave a smile, and Kirishima had absolutely no idea if it was genuine. "Friends works for me. I can do friends. But you better not try any funny business, got it?"

Kirishima frowned at Hayashi, already becoming annoyed with this conversation. "Look dude, I've known Ashido for a long time, since middle school even. And not once during that time did I try to get with her. So, don't go around accusing me of anything, alright?"

Kirishima realized that he'd slowly been leaning forward as he spoke, and that his voice had unconsciously increased in volume. Realizing that he was making a fool of himself, the shark-toothed boy sighed and leaned back once more.

"Look, I think we both just got off on the wrong foot, but you can be sure that I'm not trying to do anything funny with Ashido. It's not manly or respectful to either of you, and all I want to do right now is focus on becoming a hero."

Hayashi glared at him for a moment, then his smirk returned to his face.

"I guess I probably never should have worried about you in the first place. If both of you have known each other for so long and haven't done anything about it, then you really don't like her that way. That, or you're just too spineless. Either way, you're not a threat to me, are you?"

Kirishima bristled at Hayashi's open hostility but kept himself from saying any more. The last thing he wanted was to make an enemy of Ashido's boyfriend, as that was exactly what the others had cautioned against. He sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"No, dude. I'm not a 'threat' to you. Ashido is my friend, and I'm not going to abuse her trust like that."

Hayashi relaxed and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Glad to hear it. As long as we're on the same page, I think you and I are going to get along just fine, Kirishima."

The red-haired boy gave no response. He was thankful that Ashido returned only a few moments later, as he really did not feel like starting another conversation with Hayashi. He remembered that first impressions could sometimes be tough, but his felt like it was on a whole new level as far as bad impressions went.

"I'm back!" the pink girl cheered as she plopped back down next to Hayashi again. "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"Nothing exciting," Hayashi said, winking at Kirishima. The red-haired boy felt sick but nodded gave Ashido a smile. "Yeah… just guy stuff."

"Really?" Ashido pried, tilting her head slightly. "What kind of guy stuff?"

"Well…"

"Hey! Aren't you Red Riot?!" came a voice from the other side of the restaurant.

Kirishima jumped at his hero name and snapped his head to the source of the new voice. It was a man, pointing with his eyes wide and a huge grin on his face.

"Uh…" Kirishima gave a quick glance back to Ashido and Hayashi before giving the man a nervous smile. "Yeah, that's me!"

"Oh man! Can I get your autograph?"

The man's voice seemed to stir many other patrons of the restaurant, and before Kirishima knew what was happening, he was surrounded by civilians asking him questions or admiring him in awe.

"Dude, what you did was amazing! The way you scraped down the side of that building, people should call you the 'Skyscraper Scraper'!"

"Uh, I think I'll just stick with Red Riot…"

"Hey Red Riot! Can you please sign my autograph book? My kid absolutely loves you!"

"Wha-, I mean, sure!"

"Hey, can we get a picture please?"

"I guess that's alright…"

Flustered, Kirishima tried his best to quell the crowd, but it only seemed to grow in intensity, with no sign of slowing down soon.

…

With a hint of pride, Ashido beamed as she saw all the attention that Kirishima was getting. He most certainly deserved it, as he had gone so far above and beyond to save someone in trouble, to save _her_.

Unbidden, Ashido felt a strange feeling erupt in her chest. What was that? Frowning slightly, Ashido stared at Kirishima as he frantically continued to sign as many autograph books as he could. Did the strange feeling have something to do with him?

Next to her, Hayashi chuckled. "I think he's going to be a while, how about we give him some space? We can always set up another day to meet up."

Ashido felt her shoulders slump in response, and her strange feeling was forgotten as she suddenly resented all the attention Kirishima was getting.

"But I really wanted you to meet him! I just know you guys would get along!"

Hayashi laughed and guided her up from the booth.

"Trust me, Mina. We have a much better understanding of each other than you'd think."

Ashido grumbled once, but finally relented and let Takeo steer her out of the restaurant. Pulling out her phone, Ashido shot Kirishima a text message to read once he got away from all the paparazzi. Ashido remained in a dour mood for the rest of the day.

…

Kirishima growled and delivered another punch to the bag, the force causing the heavy pendulum to swing backward on its chain. He was currently back in his room, having escaped from the paparazzi after a short while. He had checked his phone to see that Ashido and Hayashi had left him behind, so he had returned to the dorms. Outside, the sun had already gone down, but Kirishima was hard at the bag, trying to relieve the anger he felt coursing through his being. He knew exactly where the anger was coming from.

Seeing Hayashi with Ashido today, Kirishima found himself repulsed by the guy. The way he spoke, he had made it seem like she was a piece of property or some coveted possession that should be mounted on the wall. And what sort of position did he have accusing Kirishima like that? Hayashi had only been dating her for a few months, and Kirishima had known her forever. Kirishima grunted yet again, striking the bag with ferocity. Jirou was right, this guy was trouble, but according to his friends, the best that Kirishima could do was sit back and do nothing until Ashido found out for herself. But how could he follow their plan after seeing how much of a jerk this guy really was? Kirishima had already made himself a promise a long time ago that he would never sit idly by again, and now it seemed like that was exactly the opposite of what he needed to do to make this right.

His anger finally reaching a boiling point, Kirishima yelled and hit the bag hard. The chain strained and jerked to maintain the weight, but Kirishima paid it no attention as he turned and buried his head in his hands, his mind a complete mess. He could hear a soft hiss behind him, and when he turned around to inspect the noise, he saw that his last punch had torn a hole into the bag, and that sand was now trickling out slowly from the inside. Turning to his desk, Kirishima grabbed some tape and immediately tore off a piece to cover the tear.

Just as he placed the tape, Kirishima was startled by a loud banging on his door, a voice penetrating from outside the door and into his room.

"Quit bein' so goddamn loud, Shitty Hair!" Bakugou's voice raged from outside. Walking over, Kirishima pulled it open and saw the irate blonde standing with his shoulders hunched in anger. "Knock that shit off! I'm tired of listening to your stupid punching bag! You wanna train, you go out on the grounds like everyone else, got it?!"

"Sorry man," Kirishima sighed. "I got caught up and wasn't really paying attention to how loud I was being."

"Don't be sorry! Be quiet!"

"Yeah, I know." Suddenly, Kirishima frowned in realization and looked up at Bakugou. "Hey man, I need your advice on something. If… if you know your friend is making a mistake, but you know they might hate you if you informed them of it, would you still tell them anyway?"

Bakugou's enraged features 'softened' into a deep scowl. Looking Kirishima up and down for a moment, the fiery blonde gave an irritated growl. "This is about Raccoon Eyes, isn't it?"

Kirishima nodded silently, double checking that there was no one around to overhear their conversation.

"Look, dumbass, I already told you that I'm not getting involved in your stupid drama. I don't want anything to do with whatever bullshit you've tricked yourself into thinking."

"Bakugou, her boyfriend is a possessive jerk, and I want to tell her, but I'm worried that she'll think I'm just being a bad friend or maybe even jealous. I don't want to ruin the friendship we have, but I just think she could do a lot better than that guy."

Surprisingly, Bakugou said nothing, stunning Kirishima with his silence. Times when he let others speak their piece were few and far between, so Kirishima continued, letting himself vent about what was going on in his mind. He told him about his conversation with Hayashi, and how the guy had confronted Kirishima about any motives he might have to break the two of them up.

"At first, I thought that I could let it slide, that maybe he wasn't really as bad as the girls made him out to be. But then I actually met him, and I realized that there's no way I can let this go. He treats her like she's just going to be some notch in his bed post, and she still doesn't see it. She deserves so much better than him!"

"So, what's your plan, moron?" Bakugou sneered, crossing his arms. "You gonna tell her that her boyfriend is a douchebag? If he's really as sleazy as your saying, then he's going to try and turn the tables against you by fabricating some bullshit to tell Raccoon Eyes, probably that you're trying to move in on her. Sure, she'll probably believe you over him, but then what? Does she break up with him and then move on to the next douchebag waiting in line? You gonna just sit on the sidelines and let the cycle start over?"

"Well, no…" Kirishima said. "I was thinking that she'd maybe find someone at least a little better than _that_ guy."

"That's not the point, you idiot!" Bakugou yelled, raising his voice yet again. "Whatever! This is your fault in the first place, so _you_ figure it out!"

Before Kirishima even had a chance to ask what that meant, Bakugou stomped back toward his room and slammed the door. Bewildered, Kirishima tried to decipher the meaning behind his words, but came up with nothing. With a sigh, Kirishima decided that he'd think more on it later. He needed a drink of water anyway, his angry workout having left him parched.

Taking the elevator to the common area, Kirishima was hardly surprised to see Kaminari lounging on the couch and playing on his phone. Turning and noticing him, Kaminari gave a devious smile.

"Soooo, how was meeting the boyfriend?"

Kirishima shook his head and sighed in response.

"Wow, that bad, huh? But I guess from your point of view there's hardly anybody good enough for her, right?"

Kirishima irritably shot Kaminari a look, double checking to make sure no one was around to listen in on them.

"Kaminari, can't you just please give it a rest for tonight?"

Kaminari's smile fell. "Was he really that bad?"

Kirishima sighed and told him of the events that had transpired that day, the electric-quirk user listening intently throughout the story. When Kirishima had finished his tale, Kaminari leaned back on the couch.

"Well, it looks like this is a real pickle you're in. Not really any best way out of it, is there?"

Kirishima set his jaw. "Yes, there is. I'm not going to stand by and hope that she sees the game that Hayashi is playing. I'm going to tell her what happened today."

"And then what?" Kaminari asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're gonna wait until she dates the next sleazebag to do it all over again?"

Kirishima glared at his friend. "Now, you're starting to sound like Bakugou."

"Wait really?!" Kaminari said, leaning forward in interest. "Hothead decided to give you some insight for once? What else did he say?"

"He said that this was my fault in the first place…"

"Ha!" Kaminari's smirk returned to his face. "Looks like Bakugou might be more in tune with what's going on than we thought!"

"Wait, you too?!" Kirishima said incredulously. "How could any of this possibly be my fault?!"

"Come on, dude. You've had a crush on Ashido for how long now?"

Kirishima's face blanched. "It's not… I mean… I don't really have an exact time…"

"Whatever, it's been a while, right? If you would have just asked her out first, she'd probably be going out with _you_ instead of that jerk. So really, you're the reason she's dating that creep in the first place."

"That's not fair," Kirishima fired back. "You know why I can't afford a relationship right now. I can't give her the time that she deserves out of a romantic partner; I have to focus on becoming a hero, so I can't divide my time up for anything!"

Kaminari looked anything but convinced.

"Whatever you say. But moving on, you realize that if you tell her about her boyfriend, you are effectively removing any chance you have of getting with her later, right?"

Kirishima stared at him confusedly.

"Yep, you could tell her about Hayashi's little possession problem, and she will probably break up with him, but he's probably going to spin some story about how you're only trying to break them up so that you can get into her pants. She won't believe him because the 'chivalrous hero' Red Riot would never do something so unmanly, but it will unconsciously stick with her, and if you ever try to ask her out or make a move after that, she is going to realize that her douchebag ex was right, and she'll probably resent you for deceiving her."

Kirishima blinked and Kaminari continued.

"Or, the way you seem to want to go is that you'll never ask her out, so she will never see your actions as deceptive since you never tried to take advantage of her. Sure, that works out better for your friendship, but it does have the downside of you stuck being miserable until you get over your crush on her."

Kirishima sighed and shook his head. "This isn't about me, Kaminari—"

Kaminari interrupted him.

"There is always a third option. You wait until she hopefully realizes on her own that her boyfriend sucks and breaks up with him. Then the door is still open for you for whenever you get over yourself."

Kirishima grit his teeth. "I'm not going to stand by just to save a chance of being with her in the future Kaminari. I'm not selfish, and I'm willing to take that hit if it's for the greater good."

Kaminari shook his head in defeat.

"You said it yourself, not everything is about you, Kirishima," he mumbled.

Kirishima ignored him, getting a quick drink of water before stomping back over to the elevator. As the doors closed behind him, Kaminari turned and saw Jirou emerge from around the corner, one of her earphone jacks retracting back to her body. Kaminari gave another smirk.

"I was wondering if you were there. One of these days, your curiosity is going to get you in a place you don't want to be," he said. Jirou frowned and rolled her eyes.

"You're an idiot," she said, taking a seat on the couch opposite from the electric boy. Kaminari laughed in response.

"Maybe in some things, but not in cases like this, even you can't deny my prowess."

When Jirou said nothing, Kaminari let his smile drop by a little bit, his features taking on a more somber tone.

"It is too bad though. He's so dense that he doesn't even realize that he's hurting more than just himself. It's exhausting to watch someone be so dense."

Jirou looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "This coming from you? How ironic."

"Hey! Cut me some slack!" Kaminari shot back. "I'm good at some things, but not so good at others! It's like that old saying: 'If a fish can climb a tree, then'… no wait, that's not it…"

Jirou smirked back at him. "You're not exactly defending your case very well, Kaminari."

"Yeah, well you're not exactly all that perfect either. When's the last time you helped Yaoyorozu out with her little 'Icy-Hot' crush?"

Jirou's face darkened. "Believe it or not, Kirishima is not the ineptest person in our class when it comes to relationships. For someone as smart as Yaoyorozu is, you'd think she wouldn't be so helpless in things like this…"

Kaminari felt a genuine smile appear on his face as the two of them continued to talk.

**_A/N: There it is! Locked in tight! So, if you haven't noticed yet, I will be sprinkling small amounts of other ships into this story as well just for the fun of it! That being said, don't forget to tell me what you think of the story so far! I love hearing back from everyone! Until next time!_**

**_-ImpulsiveWeaver_**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**_A/N: GAH! I'm sorry, but I just couldn't wait to post this chapter! Please enjoy! I own nothing!_**

**_..._**

Kirishima opened his eyes and sat up in his bed. A brief glance at his phone told him that the time was a quarter past eight in the morning. Thankfully, it was the weekend, so there were no classes that day. The lack of classes was always welcome, but Kirishima had more important things on his mind. After his conversation with Kaminari the night before, Kirishima had still been determined to tell Ashido the truth about Hayashi, but just to be certain that he was doing the right thing, he had decided to sleep on it before he made his final decision on the matter.

Sitting up, Kirishima tried to look at things from Ashido's point of view. If Hayashi had been keeping his true self from her, then certainly she would want her friends to inform her of his deception. Kirishima nodded slowly to himself. He wouldn't just stand on the sidelines while Hayashi deceived his close friend. No matter how Ashido reacted, Kirishima knew that this was what was right. Setting his jaw in determination, Kirishima showered and dressed before heading down to the common room, the likely place for him to find her. Usually, most of the class took time in the mornings to train since the free time was available to them. That is, if they weren't already busy with their hero work studies. With any luck, Kirishima hoped he could catch Ashido before she left.

Exiting the elevator, Kirishima entered the common area and was genuinely surprised to see Mr. Aizawa waiting for him. Standing next to him was Eri, the young girl wearing a cheerful smile on her face and swaying back and forth with child-like energy in sharp contrast to Aizawa's relaxed and bored demeanor. It had been almost two years since Eri had been rescued from the Shie Hassaikai, and since that time, all of the class had been helping to raise the young girl, as she had continued to live in the teacher's dorms since. Mostly, she spent time with Midoriya, as he had been the one with the greatest hand in rescuing her, but after learning that Kirishima had been present at the rescue along with Uraraka and Asui, Eri had started opening up to the rest of the heroes in training as well. Over time, she had come to see them as good friends and family, with a few humorous dynamics popping up as well.

"Mr. Aizawa! Eri! Good morning!" Kirishima exclaimed, giving a slight bow to his teacher and the young girl. "What's up?"

"I try not to bother my students on their days off, but Eri has something she would like to ask you," Aizawa droned in his ever-monotonous voice. He gestured for Eri to go ahead with his hand, and Eri stepped forward, her enthusiasm waning slightly in the presence of what appeared to be nervousness.

"Ummm, Mr. Kirishima? Could we maybe hang out today? Like, go to the mall or something? I'd really like to if that's ok with you…"

Bewildered, Kirishima found his eyes widening at Eri's sudden proposal. Why him, of all people? Certainly, she'd rather spend time with Midoriya, right? As far as he knew, she didn't really favor anyone apart from him. As he considered, his mind flitted back to Ashido and what he needed to tell her, and he almost considered turning down Eri's offer, but when the little girl gazed apprehensively up at him, he found himself unable to say no.

"Uh, sure! That sounds like fun! But only if you stop calling me Mr. Kirishima. Eijirou will work just fine," Kirishima said, flashing a shark-toothed grin down to the little girl. Her face immediately lit up, and she rushed forward and gave him a hug, wrapping her smaller arms around his waist.

"Yay! Thank you, Mr.—I mean, Eijioru!" she said beaming up at him. Kirishima smiled even wider and ruffled her hair, but then frowned slightly and turned to Mr. Aizawa.

"Is it really ok to go out, sir? Are you coming with us?"

While it was true that Eri's safety was a concern for the hero community, the last two years had seen the cleaning up of any remaining members of the Shie Hassaikai, making it much easier for Eri to live a normal life. In fact, the young girl had recently begun going to a new school nearby, as the neighborhood had been deemed safe enough for her to venture out. In addition, Eri's control over her quirk had increased drastically, and she now was no longer in fear of accidentally hurting someone with it. But despite the changes for the better, the risk was still there, and Kirishima wanted to make sure that Eri would be safe before agreeing to anything.

"As long as you stay with her, she should be fine," Aizawa replied. "Just make sure you two return before the sun goes down. And no seeing any scary movies."

Kirishima nodded once, then looked back down at Eri as she released him. "Well then Eri, shall we?"

The young girl's smile was all the answer he needed.

…

Kirishima chuckled as Eri walked down the aisle of the candy store. The girl's eyes boggled as she surveyed the seemingly infinite number of sweets that the store had to offer. So far, the two of them had shared a fun day out. Shortly after leaving, Kirishima had taken Eri to the mall and watched as she looked at everything there was to see. After a brief tour and some lunch, the two of them had visited a nearby aquarium, Eri having a blast looking at all the different fish that were kept in the tanks. She had never been to an aquarium before, and Kirishima had been happy to let her take in the experience for as long as she wanted. They had actually spent quite a bit of time there, and after they left, Kirishima decided to take her to the candy store for a treat before they headed home.

"How do I choose which one I want?" Eri asked as she surveyed an entire case of lollipops. "There's too many kinds!"

"That's the fun part!" Kirishima laughed. "You pick one that you think you'll like, and if you do, then great! But if you don't, at least now you know so that you can pick another kind next time."

"Ooooooooh!" Eri awed, the entire experience likely overloading her young mind.

"While you're thinking about it, I was hoping I could ask you something, Eri," Kirishima said as he walked up next to her. Eri looked up at him curiously.

"Why did you want to hang out with me today? Don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time! But wouldn't you rather spend the day with Midoriya or Uraraka? I feel like you know them way better than you know me."

At this, Eri blushed slightly and refused to meet Kirishima's eye. She brought her hands up to her mouth, and then Kirishima heard her whisper in a small voice.

"I saw you on the news, how you saved Ms. Ashido from a villain. You were really strong, and I thought maybe if I hung out with you some more, then maybe I could get strong too. I want to help others as best as I can, but I still need more time to get better."

At her words, Kirishima remembered how Mirio Togata had lost his quirk during Eri's rescue operation. Though he couldn't continue his work as a hero, Togata had continued to work through the hero support system, now helping heroes as best as he could without his quirk. Mr. Aizawa theorized that if Eri could learn to control her own quirk better, then she could rewind Togata's body back to before he had lost his quirk. Eri didn't have nearly enough control to attempt something like that just yet, but she had promised to try her best for Togata.

Looking down at her, Kirishima thought he spied the beginnings of tears in the young girl's eyes, and he quickly knelt down and pulled her into a hug.

"Eri, you are already so strong! Don't you remember how you helped Midoriya save you by using your quirk? And remember how you stayed strong no matter what those villains did to you? You're only nine years old! If I had been in your position at that age, there's no way I would have been able to hold up!"

Pulling away to look at her, Kirishima took her smaller hands in his.

"You'll get stronger, Eri. I know you will, and it's important to have that drive to improve, but don't let it consume you. Take time to appreciate how far you've come, and just let yourself improve as it comes, ok?"

Eri nodded, her smile quickly reappearing on her face. Wiping her eyes, Kirishima gave her another hug before returning to his full height. After finally selecting a lollipop that struck her fancy, Kirishima left the shop with Eri, holding her delicate hand in his. The two of them made for the train station, but suddenly Kirishima felt a tap on his shoulder from behind.

"Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but are you Eijirou Kirishima?"

Kirishima immediately stiffened, flashbacks of the swarm of admirers from the restaurant flooding into his mind. Nervously, Kirishima gulped and slowly turned around, Eri following his gaze curiously. Standing in front of him was a shorter woman with green hair, offering a small smile as though she was politely apologizing for interrupting his walk. At first glance, Kirishima felt a sense of familiarity when looking at the woman, though he wasn't sure where from. She had a small purse slung over her shoulder, and though she was not fat, he saw that she did carry a little extra weight on her figure.

The woman's kind face put Kirishima at ease, and with a quick glance around to make sure that no one was going to swarm them, Kirishima nodded once, and gave a small smile.

"Yes, I am," he said no louder than he needed to, still wary of possible paparazzi lurking somewhere nearby. "What can I do for you?"

"Oh, thank goodness! I was worried that I had accidentally mistaken you for someone else!" the woman said with a nervous smile. "My name is Inko Midoriya. I believe you know my son, Izuku?"

With a sudden realization, Kirishima's face burst into a huge grin. "You're Midoriya's mother? Awesome! It's a pleasure to meet you! You must be very proud of your son! He works harder than anybody else in our class!"

Reaching out, Kirishima shook Mrs. Midoriya's hand enthusiastically, the older woman slightly taken aback by his excitement.

"I'm certainly glad to hear that Izuku is doing well in his classes," she replied. Her eyes then looked down at Eri, who had been silently gaping up at the woman the entire time.

"Hello!" Mrs. Midoriya said warmly down to the little girl. "What's your name?"

Eri glanced nervously up to Kirishima, who nodded in encouragement, then stepped forward. "My name is Eri. It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Midoriya. You are Mr. Deku's mom?"

At Eri's introduction, Mrs. Midoriya's eyes opened wide in recognition. "Eri? The same Eri that my Izuku has been talking about over the phone? The same Eri that wrote him a letter thanking him for the fun culture festival?!"

Mrs. Midoriya glanced wildly at Kirishima, who nodded again with a slight chuckle.

"Oh, my goodness!" Mrs. Midoriya said, immediately fawning over the little girl. "Look at you! My little Izuku has told me so much about you! You're living on the U.A. campus, right? Oh, I would absolutely love for you to come visit me sometime! I'll make Izuku's favorite food and…"

Kirishima let her voice fade into the background as he turned to gauge Eri's reaction. As far as he knew, she did not seem to be overwhelmed by Mrs. Midoriya. In truth, the younger girl actually seemed to be enjoying the attention that the older woman was giving her. She also could very well just be enjoying the woman herself, and Kirishima could not blame her. He had only just met the Mr. Midoriya as well, but she seemed to possess an attractive personality. Every action she made, every word she said, everything seemed to be nothing but utterly genuine. Kirishima now knew where Izuku had received his good manners from.

Mrs. Midoriya happily chatted with Eri for quite some time, then addressed them both again.

"My goodness, it's so wonderful to see that my son is friends with such good people like you two. It makes me proud to see how far you've all come."

"The feeling is mutual, ma'am!" Kirishima said boldly. "I only wish that I could've gotten the chance to meet you sooner! I know everyone in our class would love to meet you as well sometime."

Mrs. Midoriya's eyes began to water, and in that moment, Kirishima also began to see where Izuku had learned his insane crying abilities from as well, as seemingly gallons of tears began to erupt from Mrs. Midoriya's eyes.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she cried out, drawing a few concerned glances from bystanders as they walked by. "It means so much for a mother to hear that!"

Unbidden, Eri strode forward and offered her arms out to the crying woman, who gratefully swooped the younger girl up in a tight hug as she tried to control her emotional outburst. Kirishima smiled at the sight of the two of them, grateful to see firsthand the fruits of hero work.

Both him and Eri chatted with Mrs. Midoriya for a bit more before bidding her farewell, Mrs. Midoriya adamantly giving Kirishima her contact information just in case he was ever in trouble or needed help. Kirishima gracefully accepted, and the two of them said goodbye one more time before making their way to the train station and traveling back to U.A.

Eri's long day of fun began to catch up with her, and the young girl fell asleep against Kirishima's shoulder on the train ride back. Though they didn't share any similar features, Kirishima supposed that they looked like a pair of siblings. The thought brought a smile to his face, and he supposed that in a way, they were. The entirety of his class had all taken Eri under their wing when she had first arrived, and for the longest time, they were the closest things she had to friends. Now that Eri was older and making friends of her own from school, she had begun to see the older kids as more of role models or parental figures, a position that Kirishima had been more than happy to assume responsibility of. Looking after Eri had given him all the more reason to work hard and achieve his goal of becoming a great hero, and he hoped that he could continue to make the world a safer place for her to live in as she grew up.

Unconsciously, his thoughts began to wander back to Ashido, and he felt slightly guilty about spending the day out with Eri instead of talking to her about Hayashi. With a sigh, Kirishima began to mentally prepare himself for what he would say to her when he got back to campus. How would he even start? Would she even believe him when he told her about what Hayashi had said to him back at the restaurant? What if she became angry with him?

Shaking his head, Kirishima pushed the "What-ifs" from his mind. There was nothing he could say but the absolute truth, and that was all that mattered. With another guilty pang, Kirishima realized he couldn't even do that, as he had no plans to reveal his true feelings for her. That was one truth he was always going to conceal. He couldn't afford to be selfish.

The trip was not long, and Mr. Aizawa was waiting for them when they returned to campus, and after a sincere farewell to Eri, Kirishima strolled back to the dormitories, readying himself for what was to come. The sun had just set as he walked through the doors, and to his surprise, most of the class was waiting for him in the common room.

"There he is!"

Immediately, Kirishima was swarmed by his classmates. Arms grabbed him on both sides and dragged him into the common room.

"Guys!" Kirishima cried out. "What's going on?! What the heck are you doing?!"

A dozen voices were talking at once, and Kirishima didn't hear a clear answer out of any of them as he was pushed down onto one of the couches. All around him, his friends crowded, forming a semi-circle so that they were all looking in on him. For a second, nobody spoke, and Kirishima noticed that none of the girls were present at the moment, leaving him with all of the guys in his class gathered around him. He even spied Bakugou leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Apparently, whatever was going on was so important that he felt the need to be present.

"Dude," Sero said, breaking the silence. "Did you say anything to Ashido?"

Instantly, Kirishima felt worry seep into his being at the mention of her.

"What? No! Why? What happened!?"

"Ashido came back to the dormitory in tears about an hour ago," came Shoji's voice from a mouth formed on one of his tentacle appendages. "From what we gathered so far, she broke up with her boyfriend today, and Kaminari says that you said something about talking to her last night."

Kirishima shot Kaminari a look, then took a deep breath. "I wanted to try and leave it alone, but after meeting him yesterday, I realized I couldn't stand by and let Ashido date that creep, so yeah, I _was_ going to say something to her…"

"Ah!" Aoyama exclaimed, striking one of his fancy poses as he did so. "I knew you were behind this _mon'ami_!"

"Wait—no!" Kirishima said defiantly. "I never got the chance! I was going to talk to her this morning, but Mr. Aizawa was here and Eri wanted to hang out, so I went and did that instead. I was going to tell her when I got back, but then you guys grabbed me and here we are! I haven't seen her since yesterday, honest!"

"Wait, you were with Eri today?" Midoriya asked curiously. Over the years, Midoriya had grown into Eri's sort of father-figure, and he had taken the role in stride, becoming slightly more protective of the young girl as a result.

"Yeah," Kirishima said, cracking a smile despite the situation. "We went to the aquarium, had lunch, and we even ran into your mom on the way back to campus!"

"My… mom?" Midoriya asked incredulously, his eyes getting even wider.

"Yeah! She's really cool! I think Eri really likes her! She wants you to give her a call to set up a time to bring her by if it's ok with the teachers!"

"My mom met Eri…" Midoriya said, falling into one of his mumbling episodes again.

"We are getting off track," Todoroki said with a hint of annoyance. "Kirishima, you're sure that you haven't said anything to her? No calls, no texts, nothing?"

"Yes!" Kirishima said, desperately pulling out his phone. "The last thing I got from her was a text from yesterday at the restaurant when I got swarmed by a bunch of fans. All she said was that she and Hayashi were leaving so that I wouldn't look for them."

Showing the message to everyone seemed to take the heat off of him, and Kirishima relaxed as everyone backed down.

"So, is she ok?" he finally asked.

"She was pretty emotional when she came back," Kaminari said. "The girls are with her right now trying to console her, but you know how Ashido is, she'll probably be over it in no time."

The attempt at positivity had little effect on everyone, and they all waited in a tense silence for someone to come downstairs. When the elevator was suddenly called up, everyone stiffened with anticipation. The doors dinged open once it reached the bottom, and everyone held their breath as Jirou stepped out, her brow furrowed in an angry manner. She scanned the room for a few moments, then her gaze settled on Kirishima. Without a word, she pointed to him and gestured for him to follow her back onto the elevator.

Silently, Kirishima obeyed, standing up and walking onboard next to her. He turned around as the doors closed, barely catching the concerned faces of his classmates as they slid shut. The air in the elevator felt very hot as it slowly began to climb, and Kirishima could feel Jirou's intensity from beside him.

"Is she alright?" he asked quietly.

"She wants to talk to you," Jirou said curtly. She wouldn't meet his eye, giving Kirishima a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Did—did I do something wrong?"

"We're about to find out."

Ominously, the doors opened on the fourth floor, and Jirou exited first, turning left towards the girls' side of the floor instead of right like Kirishima was used to. On the left sat Uraraka's and Ashido's rooms, and Kirishima kept quiet as Jirou led him to the latter located at the end of the hallway.

Jirou knocked on the door once, then pushed the door open slowly. Inside, Kirishima remembered the familiar hot-pink and black theme from the room contest they had held two years ago, and while it had looked so happy and artful when he'd seen it before, now it seemed dark and depressed to match the mood.

Occupying the room, Kirishima saw all of the girls in his class sitting around Ashido, all looking up at him as he entered. A few of the girls fixed him with dangerous glares, sending a silent message that he was walking on eggshells right now, but he ignored them when he saw Ashido. Her pink hair was a mess, disheveled beyond its usual characteristic style, and when he looked at her eyes, his heart broke. It was obvious she had been crying, as her tear-stained cheeks had already given that away, but the way she looked at him was almost in desperation, as though she was searching for a sign from him that would disprove something. And that look alone was enough to fill Kirishima with dread about what was to come next.

For a moment, nobody said anything as Jirou crossed the room to where the girls were. Kirishima stood at the entrance, the door swinging shut behind him. As soon as Jirou turned around and crossed her arms, Yaoyorozu spoke up from her seated position at Ashido's side.

"Kirishima," she said, her voice calm but extremely businesslike. "What did you talk about with Hayashi when you met him the other day?"

Kirishima sighed, took a deep breath, and relayed the conversation to them all, doing his best to recall the exact details of the conversation as the girls absorbed every word. As he spoke, he saw Uraraka's worried expression grow slightly relieved, and as he wrapped up his story, the changed attitude seemed to spread to the other girls as well.

When he was done, Hagakure spoke up.

"And you're sure that is what he said?"

Kirishima nodded, putting as much conviction in his voice as possible. "I swear it on my honor as a man."

"And you haven't spoken to him since then?" Uraraka asked. "That's the last time you heard from him?"

"Yes."

"You'll forgive us for wanting to make sure," Yaoyorozu said, her voice losing only an infinitesimally small amount of its edge. "But where were you today?"

"I was out with Eri," Kirishima said, making an effort to keep his voice level and making eye contact with each of the girls to show his conviction. "She wanted to spend the day with me, so we went to the mall."

"He's telling the truth," Asui said, placing a finger under her chin as she did so. "I saw the two of them leave this morning."

"And you just now returned?"

"Yes," Kirishima said. "Mr. Aizawa met us both when we got back. He can support my story if you want to be thorough."

Only then did Ashido shake her head.

"No, I've heard everything I need to know," she said in a cracked voice. Kirishima felt agony at seeing her like this, but he forced himself to stand straight as she continued. "Thank you, Kirishima. I'm so sorry to have dragged you into this."

Her eyes threatened to fill with fresh tears, and Kirishima felt the weight of his inaction bear down on him. He cursed himself for his ineptitude.

"No, Ashido, _I'm_ sorry. I wanted to tell you about what happened this morning, but I let myself get distracted. I should've turned them down and tried to find you to tell you the truth. Please forgive me for making you hear it like this."

Ashido shook her head again. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I should've never gone out with that jerk in the first place. This is my fault."

Kirishima wanted to say more, but Jirou cut him off.

"Who else knows about what he said to you apart from us?"

"Bakugou and Kaminari," Kirishima said hanging his head in shame. "They are the only ones who know the details of the conversation, all the others only know _of_ it."

Jirou nodded once, apparently satisfied with his answer. "And I know you don't need to be told about this, but we need to trust that you won't tell anyone anything more."

"Of course," Kirishima said. "I should've never told the two of them about it in the first place."

"It's alright. We know you were just trying to do the right thing," Yaoyorozu said, her shoulders overtly relaxing as she spoke. "That's all we needed. Thank you, Kirishima."

Kirishima nodded but hesitated before leaving.

"I—don't know if there is really anything I can do to help, but if there is, please don't hesitate to ask."

His words were meant for all of the girls, but they were mostly directed at Ashido, and his heart lifted when she gave him a small smile at last.

"You're already doing it, Kirishima."

Kirishima gave her a smile back, then turned and left the room. As he was walking down the hallway, Uraraka caught up to him.

"Kirishima, wait!"

The red-haired boy turned around in surprise, and Uraraka reached him and gave him a quick hug.

"Kirishima, I just wanted to say thank you. This whole situation was very tense until you told your side of the story. Things were… difficult for a bit. I don't want to reveal too much, but I'm very happy that you cleared the air. You dodged a serious bullet back there, and it's thanks to you that I know Mina is going to be just fine now."

Kirishima was slightly confused and worried by Uraraka's words, but he knew better than to pry. He thanked her for the praise, then returned to the elevator and took it back down to the common area. He was immediately bombarded with questions by the boys, but when he told them that he agreed to keep it confidential, everyone was very understanding, Mineta being the only slight exception. After that, everyone retired to their rooms for the night, the tense atmosphere finally dissipating. As Kirishima laid himself down, he couldn't help but feel an ache for the pink-haired girl on the other side of the hall. What could have happened that had made all of the girls so suspicious of him? What was the 'bullet' that he had dodged that Uraraka was talking about? Unanswered questions swam through his head as he laid there, and he was trying to banish them to get some sleep when a soft knock came from his door.

_Probably Mineta wanting to know more details…_

Kirishima sighed and stood up to answer the door, ready to tell Mineta to go to bed, but Ashido's dejected face greeted him instead. Immediately reigning in his surprise, Kirishima felt his caring side take over.

"Ashido! Is everything okay?"

"Kirishima, please tell me honestly… am I a bad person?"

His eyes widened at her statement. Never before had he ever seen her so down on herself. She was usually the one to lift people up from their troubles. Whatever had happened, it was bad.

"Ashido, I have no idea what brought this on, but I can tell you with all of my heart that you are the furthest thing from a bad person. How could you even think that after everything you've done? You've saved so many people by being a hero, and you've inspired so many more. You inspired _me_!"

Ashido met his gaze, and his heart soared when he saw a flicker of her old self flash behind her pupils. He smiled at her, and she shook her head before smiling and pulling him into a tight hug. The embrace was unexpected, and Kirishima hesitantly wrapped his arms around her in return. Her hair tickled his nose, and he was careful to avoid her horns as she pulled closer to him.

For a brief moment, the two of them said nothing, and when Kirishima felt her breath against his neck, it took all of his willpower not to shiver. After another minute, Ashido pulled back, backing away just enough so that her hands were still around him but she could now look into his eyes. Kirishima saw the smile return to her face, and that to him was worth more than anything in the world at the moment.

"Thank you, Kirishima. I needed that more than I thought I did."

The Red Riot flashed her a grin in response.

"You always know what to say…"

Ashido trailed off then, her eyes slowly dropping from his and down to his lips. At that moment, Kirishima's heart stopped. He found himself unable to breathe as her eyes glazed over, and for the smallest fraction of a second, Kirishima saw her lean towards him, her lips parted slightly. Then she stopped and blinked once before pulling back completely, letting both of their arms drop back to their sides.

"Well," she said quietly. "Thank you, Kirishima. I'm sorry that I troubled you today. Sleep tight ok?"

Kirishima's forced himself to respond through sheer willpower, as he seemed to have temporarily lost all of his motor skills.

"Yeah…goodnight, Ashido…"

After that, Kirishima closed the door and collapsed onto his bed, trying his best to forget the encounter. She had been so close, and in a moment of weakness, Kirishima had almost crossed a line. If Ashido hadn't pulled back, who knew what could have happened? What was she_ doing_ to him?

Kirishima buried his face into his pillow and tried to calm his thoughts when another knock sounded on his door. Jolting up, Kirishima did his best to compose himself as he answered the door.

His shoulders slumped in exasperation when he saw Mineta standing before him, a notepad and pencil clutched eagerly in his hands.

**_A/N: Haha, I have no self-control at all, but I guess my name already gave _that_ away. I have really been trying to pace myself with these chapters, but I just couldn't help it with this one in particular. I wanted to write the meeting between Eri and Mrs. Midoriya so bad that I just couldn't wait! As always, be sure to let me know what you think of the chapter! See you next chapter!_**

**_-ImpulsiveWeaver_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**_A/N: Chapter 4 is here! Enjoy! I own nothing!_**

**_..._**

Kirishima laughed at the joke that Sero had told, the rest of the class joining in from their respective desks. It had been two days since Ashido's breakup with her boyfriend, and since that time, everything had thankfully returned to normal. Or what could be considered normal for the aspiring heroes.

Glancing over at Ashido, Kirishima felt a solid sense of satisfaction at seeing her smile. After realizing just how much better off she was without Hayashi, her usual bubbly self had returned in full force, causing everyone to almost forget about the whole ordeal. Kirishima preferred it that way, as everything was now back on track. Once again, they could focus on giving their all to their studies. It should have been perfect.

So why did he still feel this aching in his chest?

With a sigh, Kirishima had realized that despite everything that had happened, his crush on his pink-haired classmate was now as strong as ever. It was as though seeing her saddened during the breakup had ignited a fire with him, and he found himself glancing over to her more and more often as the week went on. He did not let it consume him, however, as he already possessed a wealth of experience on ignoring his feelings. So, for the entire week, Kirishima carried on as usual, ignoring the turnover that his stomach did every time he heard her laugh, looking away when the sun struck her hair just right, and of course, keeping his distance from her as best as he could. The smell of her perfume alone was enough to drive him crazy these days.

Before anyone knew it, the weekend had rolled around again, and due to morale being so high, the Bakusquad boys decided to celebrate with a night out. Kirishima wasn't sure how, but he had managed to convince Bakugou to come with them after trying multiple times. The blonde had been steadfast in his convictions, stating that clubs were 'germ-ridden cesspools' and a 'waste of time', but Kirishima had finally managed to convince him by stating that a dance club was the perfect place for a villain to commit a crime on a Friday night. Only then did Bakugou begrudgingly agree to come.

And so, about an hour after the sun had set, Kirishima took the elevator down to the main floor with Bakugou in tow. The two of them had put on nicer button-down shirts to fit the theme, and though Bakugou protested that the clothes were stupid, Kirishima thought they looked pretty suave. Waiting for them in the lobby were Kaminari and Sero, both dressed in similar outfits. Seeing as it was just the four of them and that they were all here, Kirishima volunteered to lead the way when the elevator doors opened behind them.

Curiously, the four of them looked back to see Yaoyorozu, Jirou, Hagakure, and Ashido step out, all four of them dressed in party-style dresses that were very flattering to each of their figures. Jirou stood slightly behind Yaoyorozu however, likely embarrassed about her dress, as she usually made an attempt not to wear such provocative clothing.

"Hey boys!" Hagakure said in a singsong voice. Kirishima barely heard her, however, as he was currently trying his best not to let his jaw drop to the floor at the sight of Ashido. Her dress was black, which was _extremely_ complimentary to her skin tone, and it was all Kirishima could do to keep his chest from exploding.

"Well, well, well," Kaminari said, placing his hands on his hips. "Looks like you ladies have the same idea we do tonight! And just where, may I ask, is your destination?"

Ashido rattled off the name of a club, and Kaminari's face lit up as he informed them that they were going to the exact same location. Jirou's face did quite the opposite, and Kirishima found himself agreeing more with her reaction than Kaminari's.

"Wonderful!" Yaoyorozu said, clasping her hands together. This will be all for the better, as I have never gone to a nightclub before! I'm sure this will be an enlightening night for all of us!"

"It's not gonna be anything if you losers stay here talking about it!" Bakugou yelled. "Let's go already, damn it!"

That set everyone in motion, and after a short train ride and a few minutes of walking, they had arrived at their destination, the large neon sign of the club assuring them that they were in the right place. The eight of them moved quickly through the line, and before they knew it, they had all shuffled into a large room with a well-lit dance floor and multi-colored lights. Electro music boomed throughout the venue, limiting most of their communication to physical gestures, but they all found a booth big enough for all of them to fit and sat down. Once they all had found a spot, Ashido had immediately headed to the bar to get some drinks, Kaminari following closely behind her. The two of them returned to the table only a few minutes later with multiple shot glasses in their hands, each one filled with an amber-colored liquid that Kirishima did not recognize.

"Ashido?" Yaoyorozu asked, raising an eyebrow at her shot glass. "What is this?"

"It's tequila, silly!" Ashido said, holding her shot out towards the center of the table and urging others to do the same. Kirishima was familiar with the concept of taking shots, but he himself had only done it a few times, making him slightly nervous as he prepared for what was next.

Adjacent to him, Hagakure and Ashido were explaining that the entire shot needed to be drank in one gulp, as Jirou and Yaoyorozu had never done anything like that before. Glancing to his left, Kirishima saw Bakugou glaring at his own shot, seemingly on the fence as to whether or not he should take it.

"Come on, Bakugou! Join in on the fun!" Sero taunted, holding his own shot in his hand.

Bakugou glared at him, then growled and picked up his shot glass from the table and held it out. Kirishima and the rest of the boys did as well, with the girls following close behind.

"Cheers!" Ashido and Hagakure shouted. Together, everyone clinked their glasses together before knocking back the liquid. Kirishima's went down relatively easy, and he took pride in only slightly frowning as the foul taste rushed down his throat. Kaminari and Sero had faired equally well along with Hagakure and Ashido. Bakugou forced his down, but he coughed once immediately after, and his face immediately contorted into a deep scowl, likely in anger that the shot didn't go down so easily. Jirou and Yaoyorozu on the other hand, had just experienced their first shot ever, and though they had swallowed the tequila completely, the two of them had not fared well after, both hacking and coughing as the foul taste of the liquor left its mark. Next to them, Ashido and Hagakure laughed at their friends' expense, Ashido already turning to buy them another shot.

And so began one of the wildest nights of Kirishima's life. After the second shot, most of their group moved out to the floor to start dancing, the only ones to refuse being Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, and Jirou. After the third shot, however, only Bakugou was left in the booth. Kirishima had tried multiple times to get him to dance with the group, but the blonde refused. Even after the group's _fourth_ shot, he remained adamant.

At that point, the group started to devolve into their own sections, as four shots of tequila definitely began to have an effect on each of them. Somewhere along the line, Hagakure had complained that people kept bumping into her since she wasn't as visible as the others, so Yaoyorozu and Sero came up with a 'genius' idea to wrap her in Sero's tape so that she could be seen. Currently, the three of them were having a somewhat slurred disagreement about the best design for the tape so that it still looked stylish, and from what Kirishima could see, Yaoyorozu was quite a bit more tipsy than the other too, which he thought was rather surprising considering the nature of her quirk.

A glance slightly to his left showed Kaminari and Jirou dancing wildly to the bass-heavy music blaring throughout the dance floor. While Kaminari was making a sloppy attempt at some moves that he had likely seen on TV, Jirou was viciously headbanging in time with the beat, the alcohol having hit her the hardest out of anyone in the group.

With a gulp, Kirishima realized that there was only one person left…

"O.M.G! Is that who I think it is?!"

Kirishima frowned and turned to the source of the voice and saw none other than Camie Utsushimi making her way towards him. Having graduated a year ago from Shiketsu High, Utsushimi had been hard at work at her new hero agency, which Kirishima knew quite a bit about due to the fact that she loved to post about it on her social media all the time.

"I'd toates know that red hair anywhere!" Utsushimi gushed, wrapping Kirishima into a hug. "How long has it been?! Have you been reading my posts? I haven't heard from you U.A. cats in a long time, for realsies!"

"It's great to see you too, Utsushimi," Kirishima said, grinning at her distinct manner of speech. The older girl frowned in response as she released him.

"Oh, _BIG_ pause right there, Red! It's just Camie, kk? Utsushimi is for birth certificates and hero licenses!"

"Oh, sorry!" Kirishima said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Camie giggled and playfully patted his shoulder before looking over to the rest of Kirishima's group spread across the dance floor.

"No worries! But tell me, did you cats pull up by yourselves, or did you did you bring your—"

Kirishima saw her spy Bakugou across the room, and her eyes immediately lit up, a sly smile already forming on her face.

"There he is! TTYL, Red! I'm about to get mad lit with your little firecracker over there!"

With that, she left Kirishima and made straight for the booth that Bakugou was sitting in. The explosion-user saw her a minute too late, and before he could get up, Camie had already plopped down next to him in the booth, effectively trapping him and already starting a conversation. Kirishima found the entire scene rather humorous and decided that it was time for him to have another drink.

Making his way to the bar, Kirishima ordered a cocktail and leaned against the hardened wood while the bartender went to fix his drink. While he waited, Kirishima turned his attention back to the dance floor to check on his classmates. It seemed that Sero and Yaoyorozu had found a pattern they had agreed on, and at the moment, Sero was clumsily pulling tape from his elbows to wrap around Hagakure's limbs while Yaoyorozu was attempting to replicate his tape with her quirk. The alcohol had definitely affected her judgement however, and all her attempts to recreate the physical properties of Sero's tape were failing fantastically, Yaoyorozu having created a range of items from a metal bar to some gelatinous fluid that had almost gotten on Hagakure's dress.

Looking over to Jirou and Kaminari, Kirishima saw that Jirou had somehow become even more inebriated than when he had last seen her, and that she was now bracing herself against Kaminari with one arm while she continued to headbang to the pulsing music. Kaminari's movement was limited by Jirou's hand on his shoulder, so he had settled for headbanging as well among a few other moves.

And glancing back to the booth, Kirishima chuckled to himself as he witnessed Camie pulling Bakugou out to the dance floor by the front of his shirt. The blonde was cursing at her and trying to remove her hands from him, but Kirishima noted that his struggling wasn't nearly as persistent as it could have been.

Once again, that left only one other person unaccounted for…

"Hi there!" came a voice from next to Kirishima at the bar. Turning once again at the presence of a new voice, Kirishima saw a taller girl with dark blue hair smiling at him. The girl was a little bit shorter than Kirishima, but an inadvertent glance over her form told Kirishima that she was quite developed.

"Hi!" Kirishima said, offering a polite smile to the girl.

"Are you here all by yourself?" the girl asked, leaning in towards Kirishima to talk over the music.

"No, I'm actually here with some friends," Kirishima responded, nodding to the bartender as his drink was dropped off. "How about you?"

"Well, I _was_," the girl said, sparing a glance over the dance floor. "But I'm not sure where they went. I'm kind of by myself here…"

The girl gave Kirishima a look that made him inadvertently gulp, and she looked like she was about to say more, but she was cut off as a strong grip grabbed Kirishima and firmly tugged him away from the bar. Looking over, Kirishima saw Ashido grasping his wrist and leading him out to the dance floor.

"Sorry!" she called back to the girl. "But he's not interested!"

Kirishima flashed the girl an apologetic smile as Ashido continued to pull him out to the dance floor, and before he could protest Ashido's rudeness, she had already dragged him to the middle of the crowd and started dancing. Kirishima's gut told him that he should probably find a way to excuse himself from dancing with Ashido, but he decided that if they were just out having fun, then it was ok. So, he started dancing with her, using what modest moves he knew to keep time with the beat. Ashido nodded encouragingly and danced across from him, doing moves with such grace and precision that she looked like she was in a competition.

Despite his wariness, Kirishima felt himself laughing and having a great time as he and Ashido fed off each other's energy on the dance floor. With Ashido's encouragement, Kirishima started doing moves that were a bit more advanced. Apparently, he was a natural, as a small circle of spectators began to form around him as he continued to get more into the groove. As the particular song continued to build, Ashido jumped in with him, synchronizing her moves with his and mirroring him. The crowd around them cheered, and Kirishima laughed again as the song finally reached its climax, causing the circle around them to dissolve as the rest of the dancers spread out to release their energy.

As the song ended, Ashido laughed and leaned forward into Kirishima for support. Kirishima did his best not to notice how close they were and laughed along with her. At his suggestion, the two of them went back to the bar to get some water, both parched from their exhibition on the dance floor. As the two of them returned to the booth with their drinks, Kirishima laughed and pointed out Camie to Ashido, who was currently dancing against Bakugou with very little regard for personal space. Ashido laughed at the sight of Bakugou's face, which was caught between a mixture of anger and uncertainty of the whole situation.

As for the rest of the group, a glance across the floor showed that Yaoyorozu had finally perfected the replication of Sero's tape, but she had unknowingly made the adhesive too strong, accidentally taping herself to Hagakure at the wrist in the process. Hagakure was irritably berating Yaoyorozu for her mistake, while the black-haired girl was attempting to hold back drunken tears at her folly. Sero was trying to undo the tape, but he was laughing too hard to make any real progress.

And as for Kaminari and Jirou, Kirishima saw that Jirou had now wrapped both of her jacks around Kaminari's chest and was still attempting to dance, which had now deteriorated into her shuffling her feet back and forth sluggishly. That seemed to be all that she was capable of now without tripping. Kaminari, on the other hand, looked mildy concerned at Jirou's state, and Kirishima saw him gesture hopefully to the booth with his arm, likely suggesting to Jirou that they should go sit down. Jirou's response was to very loudly call him an idiot before zapping him lightly with one of her jacks.

Kirishima heard Ashido stifle a laugh from beside him at the sight, and he couldn't help but laugh along with her, the alcohol making him feel very warm in the leather seats of the booth. In the next moment, Kirishima was suddenly surprised to see Ashido frowning at her phone, seemingly upset by what she saw on the screen.

"Ashido?" Kirishima asked. "Is everything ok?"

"I—yeah. Everything's fine," Ashido said, her face telling a different story. "Hold on a second, I gotta go take care of something."

Kirishima frowned for a moment but moved to allow Ashido to exit the booth. He watched her as she walked across the room, then his frown deepened as he saw her leave through the front doors of the club. His mind registered that it was not a good idea to be out alone at night, so he stood from the booth and followed after her.

He registered the coolness of the night air against his skin as he exited the club, craning his neck and looking through the crowd of those loitering outside. Seeing that none of them were Ashido, Kirishima turned left and walked down the street for a bit, the crowd thinning drastically as he walked further and further away from the club. After walking a few more meters, Kirishima decided that he had walked in the wrong direction and was about to turn around when he heard angry voices from around the corner. Keeping close to the wall, Kirishima kept out of sight and listened in, familiar voices making their way to his ears.

"I told you to leave me alone! I don't want to see you anymore!"

"Nahhh, you don't mean that babe!" came a drunken reply. "You know that only I can make u happy!"

"You're drunk. Just go home."

"That's a good idea! You should come with me!"

"No, now back off, Takeo!"

A half laugh came from around the corner, and it make Kirishima's skin crawl.

"You know, you can really be a bitch sometimes, Mina!"

_That did it…_

Kirishima burst from his hiding spot and marched into the alley, gently pushing Ashido behind him and facing down a drunken Hayashi.

"Hayashi, you need to go home. Let's just both go our separate ways and call it a night, ok?"

"Oh, loook!" Hayashi belted out with mock surprise. "It's the Red Riot here to save the day! You member our little convo about a week ago, Carry-sheet-mom? Mina, how bout you remind him about exactly what he said?"

Ashido growled from behind Kirishima.

"Kirishima never said those things, _you_ did! And on top of that, you cheated on me, Takeo!"

This seemed to anger the drunken Hayashi.

"Well, you know what?! You…you ain't nuthin but a prood, and yer gonna die old and alone just like yer little red virgin here!"

From behind him, Kirishima felt Ashido grab his arm and begin to pull him away.

"Come on, Kirishima. We're leaving!"

Hayashi grinned at them. "Not both of you…"

Hayashi suddenly lunged for the two of them, and time seemed to slow as Ashido's drunken ex stretched his hand out in preparation to strike. Reacting instinctively, Kirishima made sure that he stood between Ashido and Hayashi, then reached out and slapped the man's hand away, backing up more as he did so.

The drunk Hayashi spun with the force of the blow and tripped, catching himself with both hands against the wall of the alley. As soon as his hands made contact, the brick exterior of the wall suddenly changed, the combination of brick and mortar turning completely into glass. Kirishima was stunned at the sight. Hayashi had just tried to transmute him, and if he hadn't reacted, the drunkard could have killed him.

"Are you insane?!" Kirishima shouted as he held Ashido at arm's length protectively. "You could have killed me!"

Hayashi whirled back around, his eyes growing even angrier. "I was just gonna turn a bit of your skin! Your quirk does it already!"

Kirishima's eyes narrowed. Without taking his gaze away from Hayashi, Kirishima assumed a bold combat stance.

"Stand clear, Ashido," he said, his voice low and dangerous. He felt Ashido squeeze his arm for a moment, then her grip disappeared as she moved to a safe distance. As she moved away, Hayashi grinned vilely at the red-haired boy.

"Well, now isn't this nice? Looks like your whole 'manly' credo wasn't just bullshit after all!"

Kirishima said nothing, choosing instead to raise his arms into a defensive position, his quirk activating and sharpening his features.

Hayashi sneered, then charged forward again, but this time, Kirishima was ready. As Hayashi stretched his hand towards him once more, Kirishima hardened his left arm to the maximum and offered it as bait, Hayashi's eyes already tracking the appendage as Kirishima thrust it forward. Unfortunately for Hayashi, he had been so engrossed by Kirishima's offered arm that he failed to notice the boy's other fist coming directly for his face.

Just as his fingers wrapped around Kirishima's left arm, the Red Riot's other hardened fist struck him directly under his chin, lifting Hayashi off of his feet and throwing him backward from the blow. With a loud thud, Hayashi landed on his back and fell still, Kirishima's blow having knocked him unconscious before he had even hit the ground.

After checking that Hayashi had suffered no major injuries, Kirishima took a brief moment to examine his arm where the drunkard had made contact with him. Thankfully, Kirishima's hardening had almost seemed to overpower Hayashi's transmutation, and there only existed a very shallow handprint on Kirishima's arm, as Hayashi had only managed to transmute the top layer of skin.

Once more checking Hayashi's condition, Kirishima was satisfied that the unconscious man did not require any medical attention. Behind him, Kirishima heard Ashido call out his name, and he turned to see the rest of the group standing at the entrance to the alley, as well as a few bystanders who had heard the commotion.

"Whoa dude!" Sero said looking at the handprint on Kirishima's arm. "I had no idea that your hardening could do that! You alright?"

"Yeah…" Kirishima said, inspecting his arm for any sign of decay or transmutation. "I'm honestly surprised that I didn't sustain that much damage…"

"That was reckless!" Ashido said, running up to him and beating on his chest with her fists. "If you weren't careful, he could have turned you into air or something!"

"I'm ok, Ashido, really!" Kirishima said, leaning away and raising his arms in defense against her blows.

"I think you turned out ok because of your quirkssss," Yaororozu slurred as she looked from Kirishima to Hayashi, and the red-haired boy stifled a chuckle to see that her and Hagakure were still taped together at the wrist.

"Sinccce your quirk sseems to transmute your ssskin iinto a harder versssion of itself," Yaoyorozu continued. "It rreally jus came down to whose quirk wass more developed. And you won!"

Everyone glanced towards her, surprised that she was still capable of such profound thoughts in such a drunken state.

"No doubt, fam!" came Camie's voice, her form leaning heavily against Bakugou, who had taken to ignoring her.

"Ain't nobody winning nothing…" came a grumble from behind them, and they all turned to see Hayashi attempting to struggle to his feet. "We ain't done here yet…"

He then gave a jolt and fell back unconscious as Jirou stabbed him with one of her headphone jacks. Looking back, Kirishima saw that she was barely standing, her arm slung over Kaminari for support and her other unused headphone jack still wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Yeah!" she slurred out. "Why don yu jus shuv it up yer assss… bittch!"

…

Using Sero's tape, the U.A. students restrained the unconscious Hayashi and propped him up against the wall of the alley. A few bystanders offered to call the police, and the students all thanked them before departing on a train back to campus. Camie had to get off a few stops before theirs, and she gave each one of them a hug and Bakugou a kiss on the cheek before departing. Once she was gone, Kirishima noticed Bakugou visibly relax, only for him to become agitated once more after Kaminari teasingly called him 'Firecracker'.

Once they had successfully made it back to the dorms, Kirishima and Ashido ended up taking charge and making sure that everyone made it back to their dorms safely. After using the sharp edges of Kirishima's hardening to cut the tape connecting Yaoyorozu and Hagakure, Kirishima helped Ashido guide the drunken vice president to her room on the fifth floor. Hagakure was not nearly as drunk as her classmate, so they bid her a farewell on the third floor with Kaminari and Jirou. As they stepped out, Yaoyorozu suddenly began walking right instead of left, attempting to follow Sero over to the boys' side of the floor.

"No, no, Momo. Wrong side…" Ashido coaxed, pulling Yaoyorozu back toward the girls' side of the floor. The creation-quirk user resisted however, mumbling about something that she needed to do first.

"Not tonight, you don't. And if I have to make Sero tape you to your bed, I will," Ashido said, giving her a stern look that seemed to communicate more than Kirishima knew. Seeing as how they might need to have a private conversation, Kirishima said goodbye to Sero and excused himself to go check on Kaminari and Jirou, Ashido giving him a grateful nod as he left.

Taking the elevator down to the third floor, Kirishima saw no sign of Jirou or Kaminari in the hallway and decided to check on Jirou's room first since she was the most inebriated of the group. As he arrived at her door, Kirishima was about to knock when he noticed that the door itself was already slightly ajar. From inside, he could distinctly make out Jirou's condescending voice alongside Kaminari's griping tone.

"Look Sparky! You're the one who peer pressured me into taking those shots, so the least you could've done was hold my jacks as I puked my guts out!"

"That's not fair, I didn't tell you take that fifth shot! In fact, I tried to stop you, remember?"

"Just shut up and get me some water, there's nothing left in my stomach to puke up anyway…"

The door then opened all the way, revealing a disgruntled Kaminari, whose eyes widened at the sight of Kirishima with his hand poised to knock on the door. The Red Riot flashed a smile to his bewildered friend.

"Hey man, everything going ok?"

Kaminari sighed and shook his head tiredly.

"We are never taking Jirou out again," he mumbled, causing Kirishima to laugh as the electric-haired boy pushed by and made for the elevators. Kirishima followed, taking the next car upward shortly after Kaminari's went down.

Arriving on his own floor, Kirishima grinned as he saw Ashido waiting for him, humming a small tune to herself as she leaned back against the opposite wall. She returned his smile then pushed off the wall to stand across from him.

"Yaoyorozu is finally in bed," she confirmed proudly. "The threat of binding her with Sero's tape was finally enough to get her to go to back to her room."

Kirishima laughed at his classmate's antics, and a comfortable silence fell between the two of them.

"Well," Kirishima said, turning toward the boys' side of the floor. "I think everyone is good to go for tonight! I'll check on Bakugou, but I'm definitely ready to—"

"Kirishima…"

The boy turned back to see that Ashido's face had suddenly fallen, her bright and cheery demeanor replaced by the grim sadness that he had hoped he would never see again.

"Can I… talk to you for a minute… in private?"

Concerned, Kirishima nodded and followed Ashido as she led the way to her room. Closing the door behind him, Kirishima saw Ashido sit down heavily on the bed, and she gestured for him to take a seat next to her. Forcing down the butterflies forming in his stomach, Kirishima took a seat on the mattress, making sure that there was plenty of room between them.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, and Kirishima sensed hesitation in Ashido's behavior. Deciding that he should clear the air, he spoke up.

"Hey look, about what happened tonight… don't feel like you have to say anything. What happened, happened, and none of it was your fault."

Ashido then met his gaze, her own eyes filled with sorrow.

"That day when I broke up with Hayashi, you don't know what happened, do you?"

Kirishima shook his head, and Ashido lowered her gaze to her hands folded in her lap before she continued.

"We were on a date. We were talking… I don't remember what about, but I remember your name coming up. In that moment, his attitude changed, and he told me about the conversation you two had in the restaurant that other day. He told me that you threatened him, that you'd break his legs if he didn't break up with me, that you had been trying to get with me for a long time, and that no one was going to get in your way. And then he…"

Tears began to fall down Ashido's cheeks, but she clenched her hands and continued.

"…he told me that you had only saved my life from that villain as a stunt to break the two of us up!" she choked out, her voice breaking. Softly, Kirishima reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into his touch for a moment before burying her face in his chest and sobbing. It had been one of many times that evening that they had been so close, but Kirishima ignored the thought, choosing instead to let her cry into him, saving his embarrassment for another time. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back as her body was racked with sobs.

"I knew that he was lying. I knew that you'd never do something like that! But when he said that to me, the thought alone hurt so much, and even the smallest possibility of it being true was enough to break me down!"

Kirishima thought back to how suspicious of him the girls had been, how when he had asked Jirou if he had done something wrong, she had replied that they didn't know yet.

"I didn't want to bring you into it!" Ashido said, gripping his button-down shirt tightly. "But it was tearing me apart! I tried and tried to tell myself that it wasn't true, that there was no way you'd be so evil as to do something like that, but as it went on, I realized that I needed to hear you say it! I needed you to look me in the eye and tell me that what he said wasn't true! And when you did, you can't imagine how relieved I was! I thought I was drowning! And when you told me your side of the story, it was like I broke free! I felt like I could breathe again!"

Kirishima remembered that as well, how much each of the girls had visibly relaxed when he had told them his side of the story, how Uraraka had pulled him aside and explained just how grateful she was for what he had told them. He had been confused at the time, not understanding how dangerous of a situation he had been in, but hearing this now, Kirishima felt his chest tighten in anger at how Hayashi had tormented Ashido by feeding her such terrible lies. She hadn't believed them, of course, but just being told something so heinous had left the smallest sliver of doubt in her mind, a sliver that was potent enough to topple their entire friendship. So, she had reached out and asked him to confirm that it wasn't true, that Hayashi's horrible words held no water. And when he had, it had filled her with more relief than he could have ever known.

"Ashido," Kirishima said pulling her from him so that he could tilt her eyes up to meet his.

"I could never, _EVER_ do that to you. To hold such detestable motives, I feel sick even thinking about it. Never in my worst nightmares could I even _think_ of hurting my friends. You… Bakugou…Midoriya… everyone! Each and every one of you has been there for me more times than I can count, and I'll never forget that. That's why I can't bear the thought of seeing any of you in pain. We all have come so far together, and I know that there is so much more waiting for us in the future as heroes."

He gazed sincerely down into her golden irises, the edges of his lips tugging upward at her captivated stare. Neither of them could have looked away if their lives depended on it.

"That's why I saved you from that villain, Mina. Not just because that's what heroes do, but because I wanted you to keep moving forward with me. Our journey forward wouldn't be the same without you here with us."

Ashido looked up at him, then shook her head and smiled, removing one of her hands from his shirt to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

"There you go again," she said with a small laugh. "You always know just what to say to make things better…"

Her features then changed again, and Kirishima's heart stopped once more as she lowered her gaze to his lips again like she had the other night.

"That day… I never really thanked you for saving me, did I?" she said, her voice carrying a low huskiness that caused Kirishima's brain to short-circuit. He wanted to tell her that thanks were unnecessary, but the only sound he could muster was a barely audible squeak that died in the back of his throat.

And before he could try again, her lips were against his, kissing him with an intense passion that could have only been cultivated with time. Kirishima felt his mind go blank as he struggled to comprehend what was happening, and while his mind grappled with the situation, Ashido's arms were already in motion to hold herself closer to him. Her fingers hungrily tangling deep into his hair.

Kirishima's body then moved seemingly of its own volition, making him feel like he was simply a spectator of his own actions as he reached out and cupped her face in his hands. Slowly he tilted his head to the side, allowing him to deepen the kiss, and Ashido melted happily into him at his reciprocation.

His eyes closed, Kirishima lightly traced his hands up the side of her face as she shifted her weight to sit on his lap. She clung to him like a lifeline, and as Kirishima continued his exploration across her features, he let her soft silky hair run across the skin of his hands, every part of her feeling like it was red-hot where he made contact. He continued to explore as she continued to kiss him, and he felt his fingers briefly brush over the roots that sprouted from her head into her horns. In curiosity, Kirishima gently caressed up the roots and gently stroked her hardened horns, and Ashido suddenly inhaled sharply, arching her back and stiffening in response to the contact.

At first, he was afraid that he had hurt her, but when she began to kiss him more passionately, he realized that it had been quite the opposite, her horns turning out to be sensitive in a much different way than he thought. His heart melted at the realization, and he smiled against her lips. He never thought he could find her even cuter than he already did.

It was only when she began to slide her hands under his shirt that his eyes snapped open.

_What the hell am I doing?!_

Guiltily, Kirishima jumped away from Ashido, jolting to his feet and backing away as though she had burned him. In shock, Ashido stared back at him, frantically searching his eyes for what was wrong.

"Kiri?! What is it? What's the matter?"

Kirishima stared at her for a moment, noticing how her body reacted negatively to his absence. Her hands reached out to him, seemingly desperate to close the distance once more, but Ashido stayed where she was. Kirishima felt the same way, his own body feeling cold and hollow without her warmth, and for a brief moment, he took a half step back towards her, his very soul aching for her touch. But his own demons prevailed, and Kirishima turned away from her imploring gaze and made for the door.

"Ashido, I… I'm so sorry… I just can't… I don't…"

He tried to form a sentence, any sentence to excuse himself for showing his weakness, but there was nothing he could say to exonerate himself. Not this time. The line had already been crossed.

Pulling the door open, Kirishima breathed out another apology before hurriedly exiting her room and pulling the door shut behind him. He was fortunate to have not looked back at her as he left, for in that moment, the amount of agony on her face would have been enough to tear him to pieces.

**_A/N: Awww! So close! Anyhow, I'd like to take time to address something. I suppose technically, this story is and AU, since it takes place in a version of Japan that had the drinking age set at 18. I'd like to think it's small enough of a detail that I don't have note it in the actual story, but I'd thought I'd leave a note about it here. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to leave a review if you'd like to congratulate/berate me on its quality, and I'll see you guys next chapter!_**

**_-ImpulsiveWeaver_**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**_A/N: Viola_****_! Chapter 5 is here! I own nothing and enjoy!_**

**_..._**

Kirishima did not see Ashido the next day. In fact, he did not see much of anyone for the rest of the weekend, choosing to confine himself to his room due to the incredible shame he felt. Everything he had been trying to avoid, everything that he had feared the most, all of it had come to pass. In a moment of unforgivable weakness, Kirishima had revealed his secret to her, and in the most detestable way possible no less. He had disgustingly taken advantage of her when she was vulnerable, letting himself kiss her almost immediately after she had broken up with her previous boyfriend. To make matters worse, she had been under the influence of alcohol, making him even more of a coward.

Even though she had instigated the kiss, Kirishima refused to believe that any of this was her fault. She had not known what she had been doing, but _he_ had. He had been fully cognizant of the situation, and now he had ruined everything for a moment of selfishness. He growled and buried his head in his hands at the thought.

God, how she must hate him now. Not even a few minutes after assuring her that he wasn't trying to take advantage, he had kissed her, and the repulsiveness of his actions had no doubt earned Ashido's loathing. Not just hers even, as all of the girls in the class likely knew about what had happened, Ashido probably having told them the next morning. The thought itself dragged him even lower into his self-loathing. How could he call himself a hero _or_ a man after committing an act so vile?

He deserved it, he deserved all of their abhorrence, as no one else was to blame but him. Ashido had likely limited the details of the situation to only the girls, but he had no doubt that the others were suspicious that something had occurred.

Surely enough, Kaminari had knocked on Kirishima's door late Sunday afternoon, his eyes portraying a mixture of confusion and concern.

Initially, Kirishima declined to answer the door when he knocked, but he bitterly forced himself to do so after reminding himself that he deserved the torment they would all likely inflict on him.

"Dude," Kaminari said, no doubt noticing Kirishima's uncharacteristically disheveled state. "What did you _do_? Jirou's clamming up about the details, but everyone knows that something happened between you and Ashido. She's a mess, man, and you aren't looking much better!"

Kirishima sighed and shook his head, feeling the bitter taste fill his mouth as he recounted his failure to Kaminari, physically cringing as he remembered how weak he had been when she had kissed him. When he had finished with a heavy sigh, he met Kaminari's gaze once again to find the yellow-haired boy shaking his head at him incredulously.

"I…wow, dude. I don't even know what to say. You messed up BIG time. You gotta fix this."

"You don't think I've been tearing my hair out trying to think of a way to?!" Kirishima nearly shouted at his friend. "I wish there was some way to fix it, but there isn't!"

Kaminari stood in a stunned silence as Kirishima vented in front of him.

"There's nothing I can say, nor is there anything I can do that will change what happened. She confided in me! She told me the truth about her breakup! And all I did was take advantage of her like a spineless coward! I can't take that back!"

His verbal lamentation then sank even deeper into self-hatred as the words flowed from him.

"I should've just let her speak, and then excused myself when she leaned in! Or at the very least I could've broken away from the kiss instead of letting it happen! But instead, I enjoyed it, I _relished_ it! I let myself kiss her back! She didn't know what she was doing, but _I_ did, and I betrayed her trust!"

The beginnings of tears had already begun to form in his eyes, but he forced his head up to watch Kaminari's reaction. He waited in agony for him to agree, to berate him for his weakness when he had needed to be strong. All he got was a disbelieving shake of a head.

"You think she hates you because you kissed her back?" came his voice.

Kirishima nodded despairingly. His voice caught and he choked out the words that came next.

"That was it, man. All it took was one moment of weakness, a moment that I should've never let happen…"

Kaminari grabbed Kirishima by his shirt and shook him angrily.

"How?! How can you be so dense?!" Kaminari's voice grew into a yell. "After everything that you've been through with her, you are still so blinded by your own insecurity that you can't see how much she…"

Kaminari then stopped and released Kirishima with a shake of his head.

"You know what? Forget it," Kaminari's voice sounded defeated. "If you still can't see the truth after so long, then you really don't deserve her anyway. So, I guess now we agree on that. Congratulations…"

Kirishima didn't understand the meaning behind his friend's words, but he didn't have a chance to find clarification, as Kaminari then turned on his heel and stalked away, his posture weary and apathetic.

Despite Kirishima's ignorance to whatever Kaminari was talking about, the tone of the conversation was still berating of his actions, and he deserved it, whatever the reason.

As much as Kirishima dreaded it, the weekend came to a close, and as he walked into the classroom on Monday morning, he could feel the weight of the stares from his classmates. Gritting his teeth and keeping his eyes forward, Kirishima took his seat, everyone dropping their stares shortly after he sat down. Then, Ashido walked in, her usual cheeriness nowhere to be found, and her eyes looking anywhere but him. He unconsciously spared a glance and felt his heart sink into his stomach at what he had done to her. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, her tired eyes empty husks of their bright and enthusiastic selves. Her hair was a mess as well, flattened and poking out at awkward angles that contrasted her usual controlled fizziness that she kept it at. Despite his efforts, Kirishima doubted that he looked much better.

The stares came again as she took her seat, and Kirishima felt the weight split between him and his pink classmate. The girl said nothing to anyone and kept her head down as she took her seat. In fact, no one had said a thing, but Kirishima knew that they didn't have to. Just seeing the two of them had no doubt confirmed the rumors going around, and now everyone was certain _something_ had happened between the two of them.

The tense silence was broken as Mr. Aizawa entered and began class for the day. If the teacher sensed anything was off, he did not mention it, and he conducted their classwork and training as though nothing had changed.

Kirishima did his best to focus as the day went on, but all of his thoughts kept drifting to Ashido, his anger at himself growing the more he thought about how much he had hurt her. It compounded on itself when he saw the effect it was having on her hero training. Her energy was almost completely gone, and she fell behind in a few of their exercises as a result. God, it hurt so much to see her like this.

As for the rest of the class, Kirishima noticed that most of their reactions could be grouped into two categories. The most common reaction, shared by the majority, was a general wariness of him, as though they didn't know what exactly had transpired, and were opting to be cautious of him lest they say something that set him off. Kirishima did his best to ignore their worried looks but found himself extremely worn out at the end of the day from enduring it.

The other reactions were what hurt the most, being much more potent than the others despite coming from a smaller pool of individuals. These reactions came from the girls and Kaminari, and ranged from disappointment to open condescension, as all of them likely knew the details of his encounter with Ashido the other night. Kirishima felt himself wilting under their scrutiny, and he once again bitterly reminded himself that he deserved this.

The trend continued for the next two days, and Kirishima could feel the dour mood begin to affect everyone else in the class as well. It was like his misery was contagious, and prolonged exposure began to dampen the spirits of his classmates. Their general enthusiasm took on a more subdued tone, and Kirishima was horrified when he realized what was happening. Now his weakness was hurting those around him as well, his lack of inner strength causing pain and misery to people who never deserved it.

As training ended that day, Kirishima returned to the dorms with an unbearable shame resting on his shoulders. Just as he opened the door to his room, he heard a voice behind him.

"We need to talk, Shitty Hair."

Turning in surprise, Kirishima saw Bakugou walk up to him, his features contorted into a deep scowl that surpassed his usual one. Kirishima sighed and turned to face him, he'd been expecting a confrontation from someone sooner or later. He supposed it may as well be Bakugou.

"Look man, I'm sor—"

"Not here. Meet me at this place tonight."

Bakugou shoved a slip of paper into Kirishima's chest, and the shark-toothed boy frowned as he saw an address written in Bakugou's handwriting.

"What? Why?" Kirishima said confusedly.

"Be there," Bakugou growled dangerously, causing Kirishima to involuntarily lean backward at his friend's sudden intensity. The blonde then shoved his hands into his pockets and stormed off to his own room, slamming the door behind him.

…

Kirishima frowned and examined his surroundings, noting that the address Bakugou had chosen was a rather uninhabited and rundown part of the city. Relatively speaking, Kirishima was not very far from campus, but still far enough that he had to take the metro to get there. Looking to his left and right, Kirishima saw nothing but old buildings with boarded up windows and foreclosure signs out front. He didn't see anyone one around. The address Bakugou had given him led to one of these buildings, but the door was blocked off, leaving Kirishima no way to get inside. He glanced around once more.

"Uh, Bakugou?" he said out loud, his voice fading into the empty street.

"About damn time," came a familiarly angry voice from behind him, and Kirishima turned around to see Bakugou appear in the middle of the empty street, stretching his arms as he did so.

"Hey, what are we doing all the way out here?"

Kirishima's question was not answered verbally, and his eyes widened in surprise as Bakugou reached him and lashed out with his right arm. Thankfully, Kirishima's reflexes saved him, but only by a small fraction as Bakugou released an explosion directly where he had been standing mere moments before.

Spinning around, Kirishima held his hands out defensively, and Bakugou turned to him, his features already morphed into an expression of pure rage.

"You handled this whole thing like shit, you know that?!" the fiery blonde yelled, clenching his smoking fist tightly. Kirishima knew immediately what his friend was talking about, and his shoulders slumped dejectedly.

"I…I know man, I messed up. For a moment, I let myself be selfish, and now I've ruined it for everyone."

Bakugou's face only grew more contorted in anger as he growled and launched himself at Kirishima again, whose eyes widened once more. At the last moment, Kirishima hardened his body and absorbed the explosion as Bakugou hit him, the force of Bakugou's quirk sending a small shockwave through Kirishima's body.

"I'm sorry, dude!" Kirishima said frantically as he tried to dodge Bakugou's follow up strike. Deep down, he knew he had this coming, but despite that, he still chose to evade and defend against the explosive barrage.

"Don't think for a second that I'm going to accept that bullshit apology! You don't even know what you should be sorry for!"

Kirishima tried to duck again as Bakugou came for him again, but the blonde anticipated his movement, landing an explosive hit on his hardened side. Kirishima grunted in response. His hardening had held out, but he could only take so many hits from Bakugou's powerful quirk before he would start to give.

"How could I not know that to be sorry for?!" he retorted, his own voice growing louder and his anger starting to rise. First Kaminari, and now Bakugou was accusing him of being sorry for the wrong thing.

"I let her kiss me when she was vulnerable! Instead of being there for her, I let myself take advantage! I took the coward's route!"

Bakugou sneered, halting his advance to glare loathingly towards Kirishima.

"You make be fuckin' sick! How someone like you could be so cowardly and stupid at the same time is pathetic!"

Kirishima frowned angrily in response and clenched his hands together.

"_What_? What is it then? If I'm so stupid, then why don't you tell me exactly what I did wrong?!"

Bakugou grinned vilely, seemingly relishing in Kirishima's growing temper.

"Tell you what, I'll just beat it into you. Maybe I'll knock some sense into that dipshit head of yours!"

Kirishima grit his teeth. His anger at Bakugou for not telling him what he thought was wrong seemed to compile onto his own anger at himself, and tensing up, Kirishima raised his arms in a combat stance.

"Come on, then! I'm tired of waiting!"

Bakugou shouted in response and propelled himself forward using his explosions, closing the distance between them rather quickly. Hardening in preparation, Kirishima absorbed the full impact of Bakugou's explosive attack before countering with a hardened punch. The blow landed squarely on Bakugou's shoulder, and the blonde grunted and twisted with the impact. Kirishima made to follow up with another punch, but the hit he had taken to land the blow had been stronger than he thought, and he grunted once as a sharp pain in his side. Bakugou's hit was likely going to leave a bruise.

Looking back to his opponent, Kirishima saw Bakugou quickly recover from the punch and charge for him again.

…

Kirishima gasped and faltered, his breathing labored and his legs trembling slightly. His civilian clothes were now all but ripped to shreds, as Bakugou had scored a number of hits on him over the past few minutes. Looking over, he saw that Bakugou was showing a similar tiredness, having sustained more than a few blows from Kirishima with the assistance of his hardening. The blonde's hands were trembling as he breathed heavily, a sure sign that he was overusing his quirk, but despite his tiredness, Bakugou still somehow found the energy to glare angrily across to Kirishima, who frowned back in response. Bakugou let out a weary chuckle.

"You idiot, you still haven't figured it out yet? Did all that hardening put rocks in your head, Shitty Hair?"

Kirishima clenched his hands once more. "I thought you were gonna beat it into me! But I'm not beaten yet, so you've still got a long way to go, hot head!"

Bakugou snorted.

"Since when did you get so arrogant? Don't tell me your 'chivalrous man' act is just all a crock of shit after all! But I guess I shouldn't be surprised since you won't even _look_ at Raccoon Eyes anymore!"

"How can I after betraying her like that? After what I've done, the best thing for her is for me to be as distant as possible. It's what I should've done in the first place!"

Bakugou growled, his smile dropping once more from his features.

"Looks like you still don't get it! But don't worry, I've gotta way to get through to you! Might wanna power up your quirk if you don't wanna get torn in half!"

Bakugou raised both of his hands, one pointing directly at Kirishima, and the other forming a small ring in front of the hand itself. Kirishima gulped in recognition of one of Bakugou's super moves.

"AP shot!"

There was no time to try to dodge, the move came too quickly. Kirishima had to block, an unfortunate choice given the conditions. He remembered how potent AP shot was when Bakugou invented it. Bakugou's explosions were powerful enough, but when he concentrated their force with that move, he had been able to penetrate completely through a half a meter of solid concrete. The move had been so potent that he rarely used it against an actual foe, choosing to use a weaker version that he had invented so as to not kill his opponent. Unfortunately for Kirishima, Bakugou thought that he could handle it, and the blonde fired the concentrated blast directly at his center mass.

Kirishima growled and went unbreakable just as the controlled explosion burst from Bakugou's hand, the force of his quirk directed onto one point: him. Forcing his quirk to the max, Kirishima felt the remainder of his shirt vaporize as the blast connected, and he felt his own feet dig into the concrete beneath him as the force barraged his body relentlessly. The heat was unreal, but Kirishima yelled defiantly and pushed his hardening as far as he could, withstanding the concentrated blast.

The shot passed, and Kirishima was still standing. His quirk hadn't broken thankfully, but Kirishima could feel the strain from going unbreakable after already withstanding so much damage. Across from him, Bakugou sneered at the sight, already raising his hands menacingly once more.

"Still got enough fight to handle AP shot, huh? Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you've always been as stubborn as you are stupid!"

"Damnit Bakugou! Enough!" Kirishima yelled, lowering his hands angrily. "Just tell me what you think it is that I'm missing and be done with it! Why can't you see that I'm doing this for _her_? I can't go back and fix what I did, so the only option is to stay away! There's nothing I can do or say to fix this, but if I separate, at least then maybe she can ignore me or forget about me!"

Bakugou began shaking as his rage reached a boiling point, tiny explosions already crackling to life in his palms.

"You think you're doing this for _her_?! Don't make me laugh! It's already obvious that you don't care about yourself, but don't pretend for a second that she's better off this way! Not even you can be _that_ stupid! You aren't doing what's right for her; you're just acting like a spineless coward and using your ignorance as an excuse!"

Kirishima felt his own anger rise to match Bakugou's. How _dare_ he? Couldn't he see that Kirishima was already putting himself through the agony of letting her go so that she could be happy? Everything Kirishima did had been for her own good, and now Bakugou was accusing him of hurting her even further by staying away. Battered and bruised, Kirishima raised his arms once again, finding new strength in his indignation.

"Oh yeah? Well if I'm so bad, then come on! Finish it!"

"Gladly!"

In the next moment, Bakugou blasted himself up into the air, using his momentum to throw his body into a spin, gathering more and more momentum and creating a vortex of air that would fuel what was coming next. Realizing this, Kirishima felt his own will surge to match his opponent's, even surpassing it, his quirk responding in kind and growing harder than ever before. Running forward, Kirishima heard a deep grating noise, as though a rockslide was occurring across his skin. With a determined yell, he drew back his fist and bellowed as Bakugou spiraled toward him, his momentum climaxing.

"Howitzer…"

Kirishima could see Bakugou reach his hand out to strike, his palm glowing brightly as the power built up to incredible magnitudes. In the next second, the two of them clashed, Bakugou throwing his hand forward.

"…IMPACT!"

Kirishima wasn't sure if he screamed when he threw his fist forward, as his vision immediately went white and the very air around them _ruptured_.

For a few moments, Kirishima registered nothing except for a sharp ringing in his ears, but as the dust began to settle, he felt a sharp pain course through his side. Looking down, he was mystified to see that the explosion had blackened his hardened skin entirely down his left side. Ash and soot covered his flank, but what Kirishima was most surprised to see was the skin beneath.

His outer skin was _jagged_. It looked like a saw blade, as small mountains and valleys rose and fell with the curvature of his body. Kirishima raised his arm to inspect his skin, and he heard a deep grating noise like he had before. Touching the surface, Kirishima's eyes widened as he realized that he was harder than he had ever been before. His body felt like diamond as he prodded the jagged edges. Looking at his hand, he saw that his fingers were barely recognizable, each one covered in smaller valleys and mountains that matched the ones on his arm.

_But how?_ He thought to himself, as he slowly deactivated his quirk. _What happened?_

Kirishima winced as his quirk deactivated completely, the strain of using his new level of hardness hitting him in full force as he relaxed. Baffled, Kirishima checked himself over to see that he had sustained no major injuries, just a few bruises and scrapes. He shouldn't even be _alive_ right now, as Bakugou had just hit him with the strongest move in his arsenal. Kirishima cursed and looked around wildly as he remembered his friend.

Squinting as the smoke cleared entirely, Kirishima saw Bakugou doubled over in pain a few feet away, trembling and cursing in agony. At that moment, Kirishima's anger completely dissipated at the sight of his injured friend, and he called out Bakugou's name and closed the distance as fast as he could.

At that moment, Bakugou looked up, murder still in his eyes, and with a horrified gasp, Kirishima saw what had happened.

Bakugou's arm had been _pulverized_, the entire appendage mangled grotesquely, giving the indication that it was broken in multiple places. The whole length of the arm was purple, and Kirishima likened it to how Midoriya's arm looked when he used too much of his power. Slowly, Bakugou stood up, wincing as he rose to meet Kirishima's gaze. Kirishima looked away, ignoring the blatant hostility for now and scanning the area for something to set the limb so they could get to a hospital.

"We gotta go, man! Your arm…"

"Shut. Up."

Bakugou's voice had been at a normal level, but he had spat it out with such force that Kirishima paused and met his eyes, temporarily forgetting the need for medical attention.

"This whole time, I thought your stupid ass was making excuses to try and hide your cowardice. But even _I_ underestimated how much of a moron you are."

Bakugou spat the words with such contempt that Kirishima almost physically felt them. It was like icicles being driven into his heart. Bakugou's voice still hadn't raised to a shout, but that only increased the potency of his words.

"You really believe that you're doing what's best for her, Kirishima? You think distancing yourself from her is what she needs to be happy?"

Kirishima lowered his gaze for a moment, then set his jaw and nodded, looking into Bakugou's hardened gaze. The blonde shook his head in disbelief.

"You fucking idiot… You really don't see it."

Kirishima frowned, then raised both his arms up in defeat, his aching muscles protesting the movement.

"What do you _mean_? What is it that I'm missing?! Both you and Kaminari think that there is something that I don't see, and I still don't know what it is! Bakugou, _please_!"

Kirishima pleaded, wishing with every fiber of his being that Bakugou would say something, anything to end his torment, to tell him how to escape the nightmare he had trapped himself in, but the blonde just shook his head.

"No. If you want to know, then you need to learn it from her. I'm done trying to help you."

Bakugou then gestured to his mangled arm.

"If this is what I get, then forget about it…"

The blonde then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

**_A/N: Well, that was explosive, huh? Terrible joke, I'm sorry. This is the penultimate chapter in the series, so brace yourselves for one more coming after this one. We're almost there! As always, I appreciate reviews, so don't hesitate to leave one! Until next time!_**

**_-ImpulsiveWeaver_**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**_A/N: Last Chapter! Enjoy!_**

Kirishima took a deep breath, hesitantly reaching out to knock on the door to Ashido's room. His hand paused a few centimeters away from the wood, and Kirishima looked down in thought before he decided what to do next.

After their scuffle, Kirishima had carried Bakugou to the nearest hospital, determined to get his friend the attention he needed. Thankfully, the two of them had made it to the hospital with relatively few issues. Once he had been treated for his injuries, Bakugou had regained consciousness. He refused to speak any more about Ashido, only talking to Kirishima so they could create an alibi as to how they had received their injuries. Together, they agreed on a story that involved a scuffle with a very powerful villain. If they could convince Mr. Aizawa, then they might be able to get off scot-free, as they hadn't been out past curfew, and they both possessed their provisional hero licenses. At first, Kirishima had been hesitant to lie to their teacher, but he finally agreed when he realized that Bakugou would likely be expelled if Mr. Aizawa knew the truth. It was not the first time that he had gotten into a fight with one of his classmates.

After explaining their story, the two of them had been released by a suspicious Mr. Aizawa for a trip to Recovery Girl. The older woman had fretted over Bakugou and berated them for being so reckless, but had administered treatment and sent them back to the dorms.

Looking down at his scuffed hand, Kirishima remembered his sudden increase in durability during the fight. He was still not entirely sure as to why that had happened, but right now, he wished he could harden his resolve in a similar manner. He'd need it for this. Inhaling once more, Kirishima gave a few light taps on the wood of the door, each one sounding like a deafening boom to him as it echoed faintly down the hall.

There was a beat of silence, then the door opened, revealing a tired-looking Ashido. Kirishima didn't think it was late enough for her to be asleep, and he sighed when he remembered that her weary look likely wasn't because of the time. Her eyes flitted to his face, then looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. That alone was more painful than anything Bakugou could do to him, but Kirishima swallowed and stood his ground.

"Hey Ashido… Can we… talk for a minute… please?"

Ashido said nothing for a moment, her face showing a numbness that he never thought he would see from her. It was hurting him so much to look at. Then slowly, Ashido backed away from the open door, giving him space to enter. Inside, Ashido stood on the far side of the room, choosing to remain standing with her arms wrapped around herself. Her gaze was still lowered to the floor, and Kirishima gulped nervously as the door shut behind him.

There was a moment of silence, then Kirishima exhaled and forced his shoulders to relax.

"I know it's not enough, that it will never be enough… but Ashido, I want to tell you that I am sorry. I'm so sorry and ashamed for what I did. I wish I knew how to fix things, but I don't. I've hurt you… and I just want you to know that even though I can never make it up to you, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to at least try."

Kirishima then looked downward, sighing as the words finally tumbled from his lips. He'd said it. It was finally out in the open. At least now he might be able to live with himself knowing that he'd owned up to his faults. He might never get over her, but that might just be the price he would have to pay. He closed his eyes and waited for her to scream at him, to tell him to leave her alone, to spitefully tell him that she never wanted to see him again.

"What are you sorry for, Kirishima?"

Kirishima looked up in surprise. Her eyes watched him carefully, guarded and almost accusatory. Her arms were still wrapped around herself, and Kirishima breathed out once more before answering.

"I… let myself be weak. That night, I kissed you when you were vulnerable. You had just gone through an emotional breakup and you had been drinking, and I… I took advantage of you."

"That's not what you should be sorry for."

Kirishima's eyes widened.

_Her too? But, if not that, then what else is there? What did I do?_

Ashido sensed his confusion, and her posture took on a more steadfast nature. Her gaze did not waver.

"I kissed you first, Kirishima."

"But… but you were drinking! You weren't in the right state of mind! I was, and I was completely aware of what I was doing!"

"I was too."

Ashido then paused, like there was more she wanted to say.

"I… don't regret kissing you," she whispered, her voice barely audible to him.

Kirishima froze, his mind not comprehending the words that he was hearing.

_She didn't regret it?_

Certainly, he misheard her. How could she not when he left so much to be desired? She was so amazing and heroic and passionate, and he was just…

"Kirishima."

He looked at her, mind swimming with questions.

"You kissed me back," she said. "At least for a moment, you were kissing me too, and I didn't sense any hesitation or reservation in you. There was no regret, not even a trace. In fact, it almost felt like you were desperate for more. And then, you jumped away. And the look on your face… you looked terrified of me…"

Tears began to form in her eyes, and Kirishima resisted the urge to jump off the roof of the dorms at the sight.

"Why?" Ashido asked, her voice cracking as she began to break down. "Why did you leap away like that? Do you hate me, Kirishima? Do you think I'm a monster? Am I just despicable to look at?"

Kirishima began to tremble, and it was all he could do not to reach out to her. He couldn't bear it, to see her this way.

_What have I done?!_

"No! Ashido, please, no!" Kirishima cried out, falling to his hands and knees and pressing his forehead as far as he could into the floor. "Never! Never in my life have I ever thought those things! Even in my worst nightmares, I could _never_ dream of thinking those things. How could I?! Everything you are, everything you've done, all of those people you've helped, it's all just a testament to how amazing you are! You're so smart and beautiful and… and…"

Kirishima fell silent, very nearly exposing his true feelings to her. Pausing a moment, Kirishima let his voice fall to a whisper, still keeping himself on the ground.

"…and it's why I've looked up to you after all of these years, why I've always pushed myself to catch up to you. You are everything that I want… to be…"

"Then why?" Ashido's voice said, still wavering as tears began to fall down her cheeks. "Why did you leave? Why did you break away?"

Kirishima shook his head against the floor, his fingers digging into the carpet.

_This was it. There was no more hiding it from her._

"Because I don't deserve you," he whispered, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Everything that you are, I can never hope to match. You've always been the pinnacle of achievement, and when I look at you, I can't help but imagine just how much I would drag you down. I'm no good, Mina. You deserve everything, and there is nothing that I can give you except my own dead weight to drag you down. You deserve a better man, and no matter how much I want to _be_ that man for you, I just can't. I'm not… I'm not strong enough."

His voice broke. And he grit his teeth. It was too late to take it back now. The truth was out there, and she hated him for it. He knew she did. He felt her kneel down in front of him, and gently her hands grasped the sides of his face, pulling him up so that the two of them were eye level. They were both in a kneeling position, and Kirishima felt nothing but pain as he saw her tearstained cheeks.

Then suddenly, she was kissing him with the same passion and hunger that he had felt from her the other night. His eyes widened in surprise, and he tried to pull away, but her hands firmly held him there, refusing to let him escape this time.

When she pulled away, Kirishima stared at her, and her gazed softened as she saw just how scared he was, scared of not being enough for her, scared of his own failures, scared of himself… She offered the softest of smiles, and her hands began stroking the side of his face gently.

"Everything you just said about yourself could not be further from the truth, Kirishima. Do you know how I know that?"

Kirishima said nothing, searching her eyes for an answer.

"It's because of your quirk. So many of us have quirks that can grow stronger with practice, but we all have a limit that has to be broken with time. You don't. I know because I've seen it. Your quirk has a limit only imposed by _you_. When your willpower is strong enough, you surpass your limits and harden yourself to become indestructible. That day when you saved me, I saw this spark in your eyes. You felt a deep conviction in your heart to save my life, and that spark alone was enough to push you beyond your maximum and withstand anything as long as it meant saving me.

An image flashed through Kirishima's mind of his fight with Bakugou. He remembered just how hard he had become, how angry he had been, and how determined he was to win. Never before had he achieved such a high level of hardening, and now… now he knew why. He had never need it until then, but when the time was right, he had pushed himself to the level he needed. Ashido smiled as she saw the hesitant acceptance in his eyes.

"You keep saying that you can't become the better man that I deserve, but you already _are_ that man, Kirishima. But now, you have to ask yourself: Do you _want_ to be that man?"

Kirishima met her gaze and saw that her face had become serious once again. She was hanging on his every word, waiting for him to answer perhaps the most important question of all. He looked at her, the way her horns curled just so perfectly when they sprouted from her head, how her face melted perfectly into a smile or a laugh when she was happy, and just how intense she could be when she looked at him with her golden irises. Kirishima swallowed, then exhaled softly.

"More than anything," he said resolutely.

"Then show me."

Kirishima's eyes widened, and Ashido's serious gaze softened into a sly grin. Suddenly, Kirishima understood everything, what Bakugou and Kaminari had seen that he had not, what had been staring him in the face the whole time, but his own insecurities blinded him to. This girl, this amazing person, this woman that he would give his life for…She reciprocated his feelings, and Kirishima would never recall another time where he felt so scared and excited at the same time.

There was a brief beat of calm, hesitation hindering any action, then everything became frenzied, and the two of them clung to each other and let their combined passion overwhelm them at last. This time, Kirishima felt his heart nearly burst in his chest as he experienced Ashido for what felt like the first time. Without any hesitation or reservation to hold him back, he felt a feeling blossom within him that felt like a gulp of air to someone who had been drowning for so long. The way her lips tasted against his, the feeling of her fervently tangling her hands into his hair, the infuriatingly distracting way she arched into him as he held her, he was discovering it all for the first time, and he burned it into his memory. As they kept at each other, Kirishima also felt a weight lift from his shoulders that he never knew he had been carrying. At long last, he was no longer burdened with the secret of his affection, and from the way she was attacking him, he knew she was feeling something similar.

After a few more moments of feral passion, the two of them broke apart, but only so they could look into each other's eyes. Their arms still wrapped around each other tightly, both clinging to each other like a lifeline. Looking down into her eyes, Kirishima broke into a grin that came so naturally now.

"That… was long overdue," he said, his voice deep with passion as he caught his breath.

Ashido nodded in response, her chest heaving and her eyes half-lidded as she continued to drink in the sight of him.

"True, but I want more," she said seductively, a sly smile breaking out once again across her features.

At this, Kirishima laughed and hoisted her into his arms in a bridal carry, agreeing whole heartedly with her statement. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her over to the bed, both of them doubtful that sleep would be finding them any time soon.

…

Jirou blushed and pulled her earphone jack from the wall, the look on her face telling Kaminari everything he needed to know about how the conversation in the other room was going. He chuckled and crossed his arms in a self-satisfied manner.

"What did I tell you? You listen too long and you're going to hear something you wish you hadn't."

Jirou shot him a dirty look.

"Hey, lay off Sparky. Ashido has had that crush on him for about as long as I can remember, and she was the last of us to notice. Do you know how aggravating it was waiting for her to realize it? I think I deserve to listen to their confessions!"

"I think you caught a little bit more than their confessions, Jirou."

Kaminari laughed again and held his hands up in mock defeat as Jirou angrily leveled one of her jacks in front of his face.

"Ok, ok," Kaminari said. "Let's not get too crazy here."

Reaching forward, Kaminari gently pushed the jack away with his outstretched finger, and Jirou grumbled before retracting the jack back to her ear.

"Whatever, not even _your_ idiocy is enough to kill the mood," Jirou said with a small smile. Kaminari beamed back at her, and the two of them looked at each other in silence for a moment before Jirou felt her face heating up again. She turned her head sharply away, and Kaminari turned his head as well.

"Well," he said somewhat awkwardly. "I wouldn't want to leave it to chance, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

He turned to leave, but Jirou stopped him with words that seemed to come from nowhere.

"You know, you don't have to leave if you don't want to…Besides, I've still got that new album that you wanted to listen to. Might as well listen now since we're both here."

Kaminari turned back and smiled toothily.

"Well, if you insist…"

Jirou rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed, making room for him next to her.

_**A/N: And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes Killing Me Slowly. I hope everyone enjoyed the story! If you didn't, that's ok too! But whatever the case, please let me know with a review or a message so that I can continue to improve and deliver quality content that folks can enjoy! Thanks so much, and I'll see you guys in my next stories!**_

_**-ImpulsiveWeaver**_


End file.
